Arf.

Arf is a noise I make when I am depressed or indifferent about something. It started when my mum was asking me what noise sea lions make which arose because Aldi’s fake Penguin bars are called sea lions or seals or something, and right now arf is my life. That being said, there are a few things to keep me going…..

Friends

After a horrible break up you really do know who your friends are. I feel so lucky that after not seeing them so much due to travelling back and forth between Bristol and Yorkshire for four years they still want to see me and listen to my crap and inane witterings. They also do amazing things like take me to see Goldie Lookin Chain in Monmouth…..

Cider

Source

Cider goes hand in hand with friends really….. Stowford Press is my weapon of choice, Thatchers Gold a close second. As long as I’m enjoying it with the right people though, I’m not fussed.

Gorillas

There are loads of these dotted around Bristol in honour of Bristol Zoo’s 175th birthday. They are all decorated differently and some look AMAZING! I love gorilla spotting whenever I am in town. This one is outside the Victoria Rooms and is called Banana Shirt I think. You can’t manhandle them or anything so I had to get as close as I could without having a piggyback…. I was lucky enough to go to the Zoo’s garden party to celebrate their birthday as a family member works there, it was a great evening with gorgeous weather and free Rubicon…what’s not to like!

I’m sure I’ve professed my love for Prarie Dogs before, they are hilarious! The little noise they make when they jump makes me melt inside!

I do have a picture of me with a man dressed up as a lemur, another of my favourite animals. I am gurning worse than usual in it though and while normally embarrassing photos don’t bother me, this is truly appalling so I’ve chickened out. To find out more about the gorillas look here.

New Goodies

Anyone that says shopping isn’t therapeutic is a liar. Fact.

Sleek’s Pout Paint’s in Milkshake and Pinktini – yay! MUA’s Heaven and Earth palette – I caved. And I can’t find my Naked palette. How the eff do you lose a palette? And one that big?! Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer – a repurchase. I was going to get GOSH’s liquid one after seeing a good review over at Makeup Savvy but they only had the tester left boo! This is great though, I was just getting itchy feet.

I have a poor success rate with TK Maxx finds but I nip in there every so often on the off chance hoping for some Nars action. No suck luck. I did spy these goodies with a pretty hefty discount. I’ve had my eye on some he-shi stuff for a few years now since an Irish girl on my course told me she used it. The gradual tanner, face tanner, Eco Tan and Eco Tan scrub cost £19 altogether, not bad hey?

I went to a local salon to get my eyebrows done (must do some EOTD’s while they aren’t a straggly mess!) and they were having 50% off selected Guerlain. I’ve never tried anything before and a quick makeupalley search showed all of the Meteorites range scoring quite highly so I figured why not! This is 02 Teint Beige I think.

And last but not least in the words of Charlie Sheen…

WINNING!!!!!!

I won the lovely Claire at Clairabelle0306’s giveaway! Literally the second time I have won anything that wasn’t in the tombola at a brownie fair in my whole 23 years of existence! The prize was a MAC lipstick and eyeshadow of your choice, generous enough already, but Claire threw in a load of extras too!

There was the cutest handwritten postcard, a hair mask, Clinique pore minimising serum that I used to use and LOVE, a mini MAC Fix+ that I’m excited to try and 2 polishes, Hard Candy’s Sky and OPI Whats With The Cattitude? which are my kind of thing! All this along with my chosen lippie, Lustering, and eyeshadow, All That Glitters. Thank you so much Claire! I love everything! If you aren’t already you should get following, her recent trip to America has inspired many a transatlantic lemming!

That was the ups, this is the down….

Being Rabbitless

You’ve seen pictures of my fluffer Vinnie on here before. He was poorly with his teeth and after a second dental in three weeks the vet called when I was at work to say that she thought he wouldn’t really benefit from it and she thought he should be put to sleep. It was heartbreaking because, though he is a rabbit, I loved him so much. He lived in the house and went wherever he pleased and I was most definitely his Mum. He was in a lot of pain though and completely not himself the weekend before the procedure so I know it was the right thing to do. RIP Vincent Emilio

This is him on the sofa with me watching Beyonce at Glastonbury. He was a fan of her, not so much me singing or dancing to her music, he didn’t really appreciate my musical/dancing talent.

Ha, a lot of ups to one down. It’s been difficult adjusting to being home full time again and not having somewhere to retreat to when I needed to get away. Vin was always there to lend a sympathetic ear, hell, he had enough of them, and it’s weird looking under the bed and not finding him.

Onwards and upwards hey…

If you want to see more of my bizzles, swatches and the like, let me know. I would of done them today but the house is overlooked and lacking light as it is let alone when the sun is deciding to set. Until next time xo

Naily Goodness–Beauty UK Urban Girl Collection

Bah long time no speak. Life just gets in the way…..

This is a quick post about something I purchased a month or so ago, maybe longer, my first foray into Beauty UK nail varnishes. I see a few of these on other blogs and had my eye on the Peach Melba shade after not being able to find the Barry M equivalent and everyone saying how streaky it was. The single polishes are £2.49 so when I saw a set of 6 for £4.99 with what looked like Peach Melba in it, I grabbed it and ran. To the till you understand, I’m no tealeaf.

The set is called Urban Girl. All of the polishes are 8ml and there are some pretty pastelly shades, love! The only thing is, there are no shade names on the box or on the bottles themselves so all I can do is compare the shades to the website so they might not actually be correct. This was showing on the website a few weeks ago, it’s not there now but this was still in my local Superdrug the other day.

I don’t know why the shade that may or may not be ‘Peach Melba’ is not in the picture. As far as I can see from the Beauty UK website these shades may be L-R ?White or ?Frozen Kingdom. The second one could be Smokey Lilac, third could be Blue Moon, fourth Jade (yay!) and fifth Slate. As I said this is not definite and it is incredibly annoying that they aren’t labelled!

Ranty rant rant aside, swatches.

‘Smokey Lilac’

‘Blue Moon’

‘Jade’

‘Slate’

‘Peach Melba’

Best for last I say. These were all three coats and didn’t wear particularly well, 2 days maximum and by then it would look a little shabby. For that reason I didn’t try the white, it’s not my colour anyway and I really couldn’t be arsed with the streaky application hassle. I really like some of them, particularly ‘Peach Melba’, ‘Jade’ and ‘Blue Moon’ which look great with a tan.

If you spy these in your local Superdrug and are a sucker for muted shades like me then go for it. £4.99 is good for the amount you get if you have the time and inclination to do three coats.

What do you think? Do you love shades like this too?

Things I Can’t Live Without: I

Bonjourno ladies! I hope you are well…

Since I am now living at home for the foreseeable future until I sort my life out and get a proper job and move out, I have been making an effort with my room and sorting out all my stuff as it was an actual heap before. What I am getting to, is this organisation includes makeup and now I have better storage and can kind of vaguely see where everything is I have been mixing up my makeup routine.

Point is, the things that have been sticking around in my routine are keepers. Until I get itchy feet and try something else that is….

The first thing I decided to post about is something that’s been somewhat of a saviour in recent weeks. Stressing makes me have sleepless nights which makes me look even more like a crackhead than my dark circles already do. I need something to lift my dull grey skin!

Step in….

Benefit’s High Beam! This is my second bottle of the stuff and I have used it for years. In recent times I have been more taken with powder highlighters, mainly because they are so easy to use. Just sweep the brush over, sweep it on cheekbones/browbones/whatevs and go. That wasn’t going to be enough to make me look remotely human though.

I mix a tiny bit of it on my hand with my eye cream before I apply, I mix a splodge with my MAC Studio Moisture Tint before I apply, I put a bit on my cheekbones, browbones and down my nose. This has been an absolute saviour.

Anyway I went on a bit of a road trip to Cwmbran and had a nose round the Bodycare there and saw this…..

It’s by Technic and is clearly a rip off of High Beam. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered, at £1.99 it was unlikely to be as good as my beloved High Beam but I am getting through that at a rate of knots and at £18.50 it’s not something I can afford if I can help it. And, it was only £1.99. Why not?

Comparison…..

They look pretty similar in the bottles.

One thing that really sets these apart is the brushes…..

Top is High Beam bottom is High Lights. You can see that the brush is a lot more concise on the Benefit one so it is easier to wield on the face. The last thing you want is to look like a disco ball especially if you are only going for a subtle effect. The High Light’s brush is much bigger with splaying bristles and you can see the consistency is thinner.

On the left is High Beam and the right is High Lights, swatches in the middle and blended either side. Here you can definitely see the difference. High Beam is just glowing rather than High Light’s glitter fest. High Light is also much frostier and the thin formula makes it difficult to place properly, while blending you end up with it over half your face.

I think you can see which is the winner here! I am not going to be swayed from my High Beam any time soon!

The only thing that annoys me about it, besides the £18.50 price tag, is this.

That is probably almost a quid of product right there. AND that’s after a clean up. For the money I expect more than that!

What are your life saver products? I have only just purchased another liquid highlighter to compare this too (St Tropez Rose), do you have any recommendations? I rather like this highlighting lark!

NOTD Catch Up

Arf I was going to use a title from the song I am currently listening to, but that is Lily Allen’s Not Fair. If you have heard this you would no that almost no lyrics are appropriate. On the other hand this song really makes me want to go to a barn dance….

So since I finished placement I have been applying the polish and ever taking pictures but writing about it has failed me. I would just do these separate but that would take actual years so here is one bundle of naily goodness.

17’s Supreme Shine in Twilight Teaser. What a mess, the brush was fine but this was about 4 or 5 coats and it chipped after a day. Fail. Total granny colour on me too.

Bourjois’ So Laque! in Bleu Asphalte. I love this, a bit dark for summer maybe though I usually don’t care about things like that. This was two coats and it didn’t have 7 day wear on me but the colour is pretty enough to forgo it.

Wet n Wild Fast Dry in Hannah Pinktana. This was one of the polishes my Gran brought back from San Francisco and is when I saw this I actually squealed. I had suggested a few colours to her but just said to her to get pretty ones and I hadn’t suggested this. This is three coats, there is still a bit of visible nail but when it’s this beautiful who cares.

Milani’s 3D Holographic in Digital. One of my Cherry Culture haul, LOVE!

This is the Nails Inc/Dove freebie from Boots, Copacabana. I wasn’t that keen on the other offering. This was photographing quite red for me but I think I will do a comparison with Nails Inc’s collaboration with InStyle I think last year, Beach, which I think is pretty similar to this. Two coats and it is a very nice colour.

In other news…

You know when something changes and you feel you need to change too, like start afresh? Before I have changed my hair or something, at the moment I quite like my hair so I got something pierced. If I had more money I would have got a tattoo, as it was I got this done. When it heals I am going to get another one closer to my head right in the corner a la drummer from Korn in the reeeallly hot Levi ad from a few years ago.

Also my house rabbit Vinnie has been really poorly. Whilst I was away he was dribbling a lot which happened last year due to an abscess in his mouth. This time it was his teeth growing funny (ouch!) so he had to have a little operation to file them down. He also had a little eye infection so they flushed his tear ducts and clipped his claws whilst he was under as he doesn’t let me do it for him anymore. Long story short when he got home he was in a VERY bad mood as well as being dopey and confused but he seems better now.

Here he is the other day. He’s trying to clean his ear but it doesn’t quite reach his mouth most of the time and his fur looks a bit manky because he is moulting EFFING EVERYWHERE! But he is a happier bunny than on Monday.

So what do you think to the polishes? And my adorable bunny? Yes that washing basket is leaning a la Tower of Pisa. Yes that is because he has eaten some of it.

Acting Up, Drink In My Cup

Wow ladies, it seems I am incapable of having any kind of regular posting…. I’ll try harder next time. I take the pictures, think of something else I need to do/get distracted by food and end up forgetting.

Nevertheless, here are a few of my favourites from the month of June, though I don’t like calling it that as that makes it seem like summertime which bar this weekend it HAS NOT BEEN.

Clockwise from top left – Revlon Grow Luscious mascara, 17 Photo Flawless mascara (the green one), Sigma Synthetic Face Kit (F82, F84, F80), MAC Studio Moisture Tint in Light, Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer in Light, Jergens Skin Firming moisturiser, ignore the scabby mascara brush, Shills Super Magic BB Cream, Clinique All About Eyes (from Glamour), MAC Paint Pot in Painterly, Tweezerman metal eyelash comb, Topshop blush in Head Over Heels, Benefit High Beam.

These are a few bits that have lived in my makeup bag this month. From finishing placement up north to being too lazy to unpack my stuff to convenience, this is the stuff that I haven’t bothered swapping around.

I have been loving the combination of Grow Luscious followed by a coat of Photo Flawless then combed through with the Tweezerman eyelash comb. This gives me huge volumised lashes! The Grow Luscious is fine for day but I felt it needed a little something extra for night time, added the Photo Flawless as it was the only other mascara I took up north with me and voila! A very happy accident (like me!)

My skin has been looking pretty good lately (thanks Liz Earle!) so I have been almost exclusively using Studio Moisture Tint or Super Magic on days when there has been a bit more sun. I pop a few dots of Head Over Heels on my cheeks and blend with my F84 and if I OD on it I dab my F80 with the residue from my base back over it. Pretty and flushed but not unnatural.

Since I have been single my cider intake has increased about 8 times over. I am no longer a hermit and love my friends for encouraging me down the pub at every opportunity! However the downside of alcomahol is the evil hangover and crappy looking skin the next day. Painterly covers my red eyelids beautifully and I mix a little High Beam in with my base to look a little more perky. Lasting Perfection goes great over All About Eyes and conceals my hideous crackhead undereye circles beautifully so you’d never guess that I was tipsy dancing like a knob until the early hours!

Lastly the Skin Firming moisturiser has been brilliant in the warmer muggy weather. It absorbs really quickly and smells lovely but not offensively strong. It keeps me moisturised but not sticky and I’m definitely going to be picking up another couple of these whilst they are on half price!

Do you agree with any of these products? Or do you have any recommendations for me?

A few other favourites…

Beyonce – I wasn’t at Glasto, for which I am gutted. I watched her set on iPlayer and it was brilliant. I even had a little cry (getting emotional in my old age) but she is fab. Gotta love B.

Cider – I am from the West Country, that’s all there is to it.

The Adam and Joe Show – They are all on 4OD!!!!!! I want to marry them. Both of them.

Maxi Dresses – A total blessing for those lazy/overly hairy/skanky beehatches who can’t be doing with daily shaving.

Mirrored Aviators – I have inherited the nosy bitch gene, though I am nowhere near as bad as my Grandmother. Wearing these allows me to people watch without detection! Win!

Anything to add ladies?!