Gouda Gouda Two Shoes I can paint my nails again!

This was a looooong time coming for me. I finally painted my nails! The last time I painted my nails was back in November, just before I had a heinous finger infection that lead to a Spanish doctor (while on holiday, boo) cutting into my poor finger. Well, only 5 months later and my finger is almost back to normal! ¬_¬ So yes, I am very excited to bring this nail polish post today :)

This is OPI's Gouda Gouda Two Shoes, a mauve with coral shimmer from OPI's Holland collection. I bought this in a January sale and it's just been waiting for me to use it!

Sorry for the untidy paint job. I'm out of practice.

But seriously, this was a typical OPI nail polish. Wide brush applicator and the polish applied smoothly. This was a two coater for me with my usual OPI Nail Envy as a base and Seche Vite for a top coat.

The shimmer is subtle, and you can only really see it if you look up close, but it's what attracted me to this colour. It's a lovely and easy to wear shade for work tho.

Frustration

Sorry, bit of a personal post today.

It's been frustrating lately. Frustrating at work, frustrating in the love life, and worst of all, frustrating with the blog.

Okay, not really the blog, but been having some serious internet connection issues. Literally every time I sat down to work on the blog this weekend my internet cut out.

WHY? Oh, why do you do this to me internet gods?

Yeah, it wasn't really the internet gods, but BT. And here begins my small rant about BT. For those of my non-UK readers, BT is short for British Tele... erm, phone? Tele-com? Not sure actually. I think it's British Telephone, but they have rebranded themselves so you can't see anything but BT all over their website. Anyway, they basically have a monoply in the UK on installing telephone lines. So if you move into a new house, you gotta get BT to hook up your phone line. Oh yes, there are other telephone companies out there, but *none* of them can do you the honour of installing a telephone line. Don't even get me started on how long it takes them to get around to installing one! (I waited 3 months for a landline and internet when I moved into a new build. Seriously.)

Once you have a telephone line, however, you can ditch BT and switch to another company, but of course, many of us are lazy and don't switch. There are some reasons not to switch. For example, if you rent, you can get hit with charges when you move out to have the next tenant 'switch back' to BT to 'connect' their phone line ¬_¬  Honestly, that is a rant for another day. I'm ranting about BT as an ISP today.

A shot from BT ads

They have these series of adverts highlighting how wonderful BT broadband is. Oh, lovely. You can check them out on YouTube here. Every time I see one of this a vein in my forehead starts to bulge (slight poetic license here) and I want to scream at the telly or computer screen 'WHAT? no, it's all lies!' No restrictions on speed? You are one of the worst offenders of traffic shaping I've seen! Ah, but to no avail.

Well, I spent far too much of my weekend thinking about BT, which is decidedly not-beautiful ¬_¬ Everytime I get so frustrated with them, I swear I'm switching to Sky, maybe one day soon I'll follow up on that threat, for now, I've at least managed to get this post out to you all. You can look forward to the usual beauty blogging from now on!

Do you have issues with your ISP that drive you nuts? And if you have BT, my condolences, I know I am not alone in my grievances.

Cleaning out the wardrobe

I can't believe it's Thursday already! It's been a busy week. Sorry I haven't posted much. I'm also going away this weekend to Cornwall! It was a bit of a last minute surprise! I still need to pack >_< I promise more blog posts soon.

I have been clearing out my wardrobe again, so if you're looking for some bargains, I've put some things, mostly dresses and jumpers, but the odd skirt or duvet cover, up on eBay. Check out my auctions here. Everything starts at 99p, so, yeah, check it out.

I hope you're all enjoying the nice weather we've been having (at least we've been having what appears to be SPRING here in England. Woo hoo! About time!). Hope you have a great weekend!

I hope to do some chilling at the beach... altho it prob won't be in swimwear!

Spending ban on makeup and clothes

Okay, so I haven't really mentioned it before, but I've sorta been on a make-up spending ban since Christmas. It's already April, so I've made it 3 whole months without buying any makeup. That's actually really impressive for me.

Well, it's also a good thing, as I'm beyond broke. Boo to that obviously ¬_¬

What I haven't been so good about is spending money on clothes. >_<

I have to admit that I have 3 closets full of clothes. Sorry, this is turning into a clothes horders anonymous meeting or something. Ok, ok, ok, I actually have 4 closets *bursts into tears* but only if count the one at my mom's house. Yes, I think you're never too old to keep stuff at your parents (especially if they don't box it up and throw it away *gulp*).

But anyways, the point is, that I have many clothes. I do not need more, yet for some reason I keep on buying. Hrm. So I am going to make it official, that I will be on a clothes spending ban for the next 3 months.

Some of my closets are more organized than others...

Can I make it that long? Umm.. I'm honestly not sure.

But let's see.

Friday Fashion Inspiration: Millie MacIntosh

This Friday, I'm crushing on the outfit sported by reality tv's Millie MacIntosh from the popular E4 programme Made In Chelsea.

The sun is peaking out, maybe if it lasts, I can style something up like this to wear tomorrow. I love this look.

Seriously.

(photo source)

Has spring sprung where you are?

Lee Stafford Poker Straight Flat Iron Protection Shine Mist review

I've had Poker Straight (or should I say POKeR STRAiGHT) Flat Iron Protection Shine Mist for awhile now and thought it was about time I reviewed it.

For those not in the know, (myself included until I did some internet research), this spray is part of Lee Stafford's Poker Straight (POKeR STRAiGHT) range which includes shampoo, conditioners, and a variety of sprays and serums which will help protect your hair and help you style it 'poker straight'.

As a straight haired kinda gal, I bought this awhile ago from Boots to use on my hair when I use my flat iron. First off, let me say that I don't need to use my flat iron to get straight hair. If I blow it dry straight away, I can achieve straight hair, and if it's not humid out, it will stay straight. Actually, if left alone my hair dries a bit wavy, but it's more like a wrinkled beach babe kind of look than curly by any means. So there isn't much battle as far as I'm concerned in achieving the straight hair look.Just worth bearing in mind for my review of this product.

Now, the product claims to have 4 key benefits: heat protection, straightening, shine, and great fragrance.So I thought I'd take a look at each of these in turn.

Heat protection: Claims to let you use your flat iron without any damage to your hair. As far as I can tell it delivers on this claim. Honestly tho, it's a bit hard for me to judge. I'm a light user when it comes to my irons and I try not to fry my hair. In fact, I've often used this product before a blow dry and not used an iron at all. I'd say for me, it's fine, but not sure if you have a more aggressive flat iron approach to your hair.

Straightening: well, see above. My hair still straightens, so no change there. Good news is that it doesn't make my hair frizzier than it already is, but I generally don't have that issue to begin with, so not sure I can really judge this one.

Shine: hm, well, my hair is shiny, but I honestly can't tell the different between using this and not-using this in terms of shine, so I'm going to say it doesn't really deliver for me in this area. I do have very fine hair tho, and product easily weighs it down and this product definitely doesn't do that, which is great, but the fact that I can't notice the shine kinda makes me think I wouldn't be using this for the shine.

Great fragrance: Yeah, um... no. Seriously? Great fragrance? This stuff stinks of alcohol. I seriously hate the smell. The first ingredient is alcohol denat. whatever that is. There's also a claim that this has 'antioxidant green tea' but I kinda feel like they are just throwing that in like a buzz word. In fact, this seems like so much alcohol in this that I was concerned it would dry my hair out. Thankfully, I haven't found that to be the case, but I'd definitely disagree about the 'fragrance'. It's not horrible, but I wouldn't claim it smells nice. It smells like alcohol and chemicals.

So, would I recommend it? Well, it depends what you're after, and of course your hair. For my hair, thin and easy to straighten, I will continue to use it when I flat iron or blow dry to help protect my hair from damage, but as I don't feel it gives my hair any additional shine, and I'm not a fan of smell or of the alcohol, I'm unlikely to repurchase this item. It retails for about $9.99 USD or £5.99.

Have you used this product or any other flat iron protection sprays?

Admiring Van Cleef & Arpels from afar

Every now and then I imagine what I'd buy if I was insanely rich. Today is one of those days, and I'm looking at jewellery.

Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery to be more precise.

Oh, I am a fan of sparklies, but it pains me to know that these are so expensive. I think the first ring below is a cool $34,700 USD! Prices are hard to find on the website, and they encourage you to get in touch. I guess that's the personal experience you can expect when you drop that kind of money on your jewels. 

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This is a lovely brand that I often see advertised in Japanese and American magazines, but have yet to really see over in the UK. I've only seen one actual Van Cleef & Arpels store and that was in Manhattan, dahling. Yeah, I still didn't have the courage to ask the prices there either >_<

Still, a girl can dream, and this girl is dreaming that maybe some lovely family member or admirer with money to burn might buy her this matching ring, bracelet, and necklace in white gold and sapphire. Isn't it just to die for?

Don't worry, I won't be holding my breath! But, ya know, I would wear this all time if I had it. Honest! Just sayin'.

Spring Cleaning Enemy No. 1: Limescale

Ah, what a glamourous way to spend my Saturday - spring cleaning. Yep, it's bright and spring and time to tidy the house up. Okay, it's also bitterly cold here, but at least it's not raining. I have actual sunlight coming in the windows. I hope wherever you are, you're blessed with a warmer spring than I am.

I know it's not exciting, but I thought I'd share some of the cleaning I'm up to this weekend and would love to hear any of your tips too!

Enemy Number One this weekend is limescale.

If you live in a soft water area, and you've never experienced limescale residue, I am very envious of you. Consider yourself lucky! You can get away with things staying 'clean'-looking longer than us hard water folks. Limescale is a white mineral that is left behind when the hard water evaporates and so it's actually a residual from the water. So anywhere you have water, you can have limescale - kettles, washing machines, sinks, taps, drains, windows, shower doors, etc.

For me, I never experienced limescale until I moved to the UK, and when I did, I was just so shocked. This stuff is stubborn and everywhere. Unless you wipe down after every use, it builds up! So unless you have a professional cleaner following you around, or you are really OCD and have a lotta time and patience, you'll get limescale (if it's in your water, obviously)! So try as I might with various expensive products from everywhere from the supermarket to DIY specialist stores I have never found anything to actually take the pain out of removing limescale. Oh, they all promise, but they all require lots of scrubbing and scrapping still only removing little limescale.

... Until now.

The miracle limescale remover: your basic household vinegar

Yep, regular white distilled vinegar. Apparently it's just the most amazing product ever! Not only is it cheaper then all those other specialist products, it's not toxic and you can use it on yourself (it works as an antibacterial if you've cut yourself, for example). I left it on my taps in the bathroom, which were beyond horrible, and a couple hours later, the limescale just fell off! Amazing!

Oh yeah, I also defrosted the freezer. Another first for me. Funny, I've never had to do that with the freezers back home. I guess I was just lucky, or life really is easier in the USA. I am so bored of chores now!

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Lunasol Layer Bloom Eyes in Purple Gradation

It was a sunny day, spur of the moment and I just started snapping the makeup around me when I took these shots. Only when I went back later to check the blog was I surprised that I hadn't reviewed this palette yet! This is one of my favourite palettes and is always on heavy rotation.

The sun was actually too bright, so maybe the colours look washed out. I mean, that was direct sunlight! *DIRECT SUNLIGHT* Yeah, we don't get that around here often enough.

Anyway, here are some inside shots with flash that give a better indication of the shades.

This palette is shade no. 3 Purple Gradation in Lunasol's Layer Bloom Eyes (ルナソル　レイヤーブルームアイズ) and is a lovely palette of cool purples that lean to the blue side.

From top left to right, there's a lovely pale blue highlighter, then a light purple, with a vibrant lilac (well, it's vibrant for a Japanese brand, but not anywhere near as pigmented as you might expect from Mac), and a dark navy blue that leans a bit grey for the crease or liner.


And a shot of the packaging...

Then of course, a couple of swatches:

This is one of my all time favourite eyeshadow palettes. Especially the lilac purple in the left bottom. That is one of  my go-to-colours and I use it in so many looks. It's sheer, as you'd expect from Lunasol, but it's still very lovely and bright and really gives a good pick-up to the eyes. Applies smoothly and lasts all day for me with help of a primer. Honestly can't think of any complaints where this palette is concerned. It's lovely and wonderful if you're into cool purples.

In short, this pretty much sums up how I feel about this eyeshadow.

And last but not least, here is a promotional shot from Lunasol of this palette:

Do you have a favourite purple eyeshadow?

Alice in Wonderland x Sala

When I saw this, I had to share it! My favourite Japanese brand of shampoo and conditioner has released special Disney Alice in Wonderland bottles. Aside from being incredibly cute - each bottle has a drawing from the Disney animated film on it, I love these products.

Okay, I have to admit, I've not tried all the products and the last time I was in Japan, I believe there were 3 products in pink, blue, and yellow. But hey. Anyways, there are 3 different types and all of them I suspect will be lovely as I've never had a bad experience with this shampoo brand. Kanebo produces the Sala range. Sala in Japanese means 'silky'.

Rose Repair featuring a sweet rose scent, it claims to repair your damaged hair and leave it shiny.

The classic (for which the namesake Sala comes from - Sara sara) Silky makes hair silky, smooth, and velvety. This one is my favourite.

And lastly, we have Deep Moisure which moisturizes hair as well as gives it a smooth finish.

Silky (Sara sara) is my favourite but I've also used Deep Moisture (Deepu moisuchaa) and they both were so lovely. My hair was definitely silky and light, and smooth. Ah, if only this stuff was easy to get outside of Japan. Ahem, easy and cheaper! You can get this stuff on ebay and some beauty websites, but it's ridiculously expensive. Oh well. Do you have any shampoos that you just can't find anymore?