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'.