Big Hair Number 29

Okay, first things first - I've had a bit of a rushed week and with the sun going down mid afternoon these days my photography attempts last week were very weak.

Now, I know, I could take all my pictures on the weekend but in all honesty? That's not what this blog is about. I am not here to give you advice on fashion or make-up or anything. I'm just sharing my favourite stuff and that means, spare of the moment blogging. It's like grabbing my phone to text my BFF when a cute guy has just chatted me up in a bar. I don't wait until the lighting conditions are better to text "OMG OMG OMG" right?

(Note: I'm married. The text would probably be toned down a little!! ;-) hah)

So, I will only semi-apologise for the photos below as I do realise, they are a bit rubbish as I took them in the evening but hey, at least you'll know what this nail varnish will look like when you go out! :D

So, in today's post I am looking at my new favourite red friend! Let me introduce to you, Collection 2000's Hot Looks Fast Dry "Big Hair" (Number 29) nail varnish:

I've met him on my recent trip to Boots and fell in love ... I don't normally wear red nail polish. In fact, I think this is pretty much the first one I bought.It looks really nice. It's not too sticky, not too runny and does indeed dry fast.

Two layers of this pretty shade of red later and this was the result:

I think I should have applied a third layer but I was a little tired. It literally took less than a minute to dry and it lasted for a good 2 days. Mind you, I scrape my nail polish off or bite it off when I'm nervous or concentrating so a normal person can probably go a good 3-4 days without having to re-apply!

Right, this is it for now -  have a nice week my lovelies!

xoxo
Kate

Midweek #Instagram roundup

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. So here's what I've been up to...

I bought myself a turquoise tea light / I used my cappuccino machine for the first time in ages (yum) / I found this adorable notebook (total must-have alert for all those important notes)

I had my last snickers for the year / I started a diet (let's see how it goes) / I took a picture of myself

Apart from all that, I've been shopping and bought myself some awesome baroque print leggings (outfit post to follow) and a pretty sheer white blouse and a winter floral inspired lace dress from Gok's capsule collection at Sainsbury's. Post to follow soon!

I've also been talking to some of my favourite bloggers about some projects that I'm really excited about. Now, over to you, what have you been up to? (Lots of mischief I hope!! :P )

xoxo
Kate

My #lifestyle on Pinterest

I'll admit it, I could spend hours and hours in front of my iPhone clicking "re-pin" on some of my favourite Pinners or Fantasy Shopper Outfits (544 outfits so far and counting!)

From Animals, to DIY tips, Beauty & Make-Up ideas and Movie Stills to Tattoo ideas, Quotes and funny things as well as Fashion snippets. I can find so much cool stuff on Pinterest to look at that the possibilities are endless.

As a result it has become part of my daily routine and my boards are looking pretty colourful:

Of course a side effect is that hours of pinning or re-pinning later I sit there and wonder where the day has gone? I mean, especially the humour section makes me laugh so hard sometimes that I am unsure whether it's a good thing I'm alone in my room laughing or it makes me look even crazier...

In any case, here are some of my favourite Pinners if you'd like some pinspiration for your life:

Jennifer Chong
Fantasy Shopper
Alice at Fashionis
Glamourmag
Independent Fashion Bloggers
Topshop 
Ashley

Have you got a Pinterest account? I'd love to see your pins. Pop a comment below with a link and I'll make sure to follow!

xoxo
Kate

Wishlist for #Fall2012

Okay, so here's what kind of style I've been lusting after this week...
(You can click on the Outfits to view the details)

I've obviously already got the studded ankle boots from Office Shoes but all the other items are now all on my Wishlist and safely tucked away in my Fantasy Wardrobe so I can plan out what to buy next. Some of it is from New York (like that gorgeous Owl purse) so I'll have to find equivalents in some UK stores but that's okay... their UK outlets will probably have similar gems! :D

Would be great if one of my lovely readers could create me an outfit in my Fantasy wardrobe on Fantasy Shopper by the way.

I've bought a few new items and am not yet quite sure how to wear them.

xoxo
Kate

On the train

I rarely take the train. So, I don't really know what's train protocol. Like, what do people do besides sit and stare at their iPhones? Read? Well, I didn't have a book with me so when I was on my way up to London the other day I got bored listening to my iPod very quickly.

To be honest, it all started fairly normal. I was checking my Facebook status on my iPhone and thought my profile picture could use some updating. After all, I've cut my hair since that picture was taken and even dyed it slightly red so I looked to my left and the right (ninja style) and started snapping away with Instagram.

30 odd pictures later I still wasn't happy with any of the photos. This is where a normal person would admit defeat and go back to listening to music. After all I was sitting in first class surrounded by fairly professional looking people on my way to a seminar to meet more professional people. Well, instead of that I decided to do the opposite of normal...

I angled my head, slight pout, slight look to the camera, look to the side and then I figured I might as well have fun with it and ignored the fact that I looked like a self-obsessed lunatic...

Yup, I need help. Like professional help. Like 999 emergency call there's a lunatic in the train sort of help.

Anyway, nobody noticed me so I didn't get help and I am still a bit nuts. :)

But hey, it's okay - who wants to be normal anyway?

xoxo
Kate

October blues...

It all started when I came home to answer the phone and my sister-in law asked me if I had made any progress on the story I'm writing. The answer was no, but as we got talking about the main characters I kind of started to get a little inspired. So, once we hung up, I looked out my old laptop to write some ideas down, but I couldn't find the file with the story on it.
There was no trace of it anywhere. 170 pages of carefully written material - poof! - gone. Needless to say I didn't sit down and write. Instead, I poured myself a glass of wine and shut down my computer.

Oh yeah, my sis-in-law sent me the latest version I had emailed her but 3 chapters were missing from it that I had never sent her so that still didn't lift my spirits completely.

The week continued on that "positive" note: My lead guitarist quit the band. Via voicemail. After ignoring me for 2 weeks. Um... yeah.. you can imagine how happy I was about that. 

Work has been hectic and all in all so was the entire week. It consisted of work, boredom,  some N64 gaming, couch potatoe evenings between James and the dog and my housemate just spent it on the phone...

I've been able to calm down a bit today and even had a catch up with my housemate although brief because he's texting all the time(!) and because I was on my way out for the evening and he was asleep my the time I came back home. I'm looking forward to hopefully a more peaceful Sunday tomorrow. 

Anyway, I will go back to posting about the fun things in life again when I feel a little better.

By the way, the above pics were edited with Manga-Camera (Free App for iPhone) - I love it! What do you think?

Have a lovely rest of the weekend my lovelies!

xoxo

Kate

Budget Make-Up Test Part 1

As promised in my previous blog post I have been putting budget Make-Up to the test the last couple of days, starting with Collection 2000's "Angelic Eyes" which comes in at just over £4 at my local Boots Store.

With all sorts of vibrant colours in this eye shadow set, I decided to test the blue shades and run with the whole Under the Sea theme which is inspiring the fashion world right now. Here's the result: 


Whilst I am by no means an expert when it comes to applying any kind of make-up here's how I did it - in case you'd like to give it a try yourself..

• I started by generously applying the light silvery colour (1) to my entire eyelid using a fluffy round eye shadow brush, making sure to cover both the outer and inner corner of my eye and brushing up to the browbone and highlighting it at the same time. Then I lightly dusted below my lower lash line using the same colour and removed any excess powder with a cosmetic tissue.

• After lightly scraping the sky blue shade (2) with the end of my eye shadow brush to reach a colour rich result, I went to sweep the medium shade in a half-circular move on the crease of my eye lid. To add some depth I blended the shade down towards my upper lash line with a round-tipped brush that had no product on it. (I find that it's easier to avoid unwanted smudging by using a clean brush for blending heavy contrast shades)

• Next I went to softly dab the purply blue (3) coloured eye shadow just up onto the outside corner of the eyelid and using my little finger I went to blend that same shade ever so lightly into the inner corner of my eye lid.

• I used the navy blue shade (4) to accentuate the eye crease and applied a light grey eyeliner to my upper lash line, the inner corner and the outer corner of my lower lash line as well as a few dots on my brow bone. Then I finished the Under the Sea inspired look by applying some black mascara.

The application of the eye shadow took me a bit less than 10 minutes and its removal was straight forward leaving no ugly dark stains (as some other colour rich eyeshadows are known to do) so all in all I was extremely happy with the result.

As to the colour strength/pigmentation, here a little colour swatch so you can see all colours in this set

The colours lack a bit in intensity despite the fact they look so vibrant but there's nothing a good primer (as a base) and a good strong brush won't fix :) I actually used my Studio Secrets Primer from L'Oreal - have a look at this Review I wrote a little while ago if you want my opinion on some current Primers on the market.

So here we go, a big thumbs up from me to Collection 2000 Angelic Eyes - eyeshadow palette.
Really good value for money.

My piggy bank is happy and so am I. :o)

xoxo
Kate