New Earrings

It was a friend's birthday this week so we all went for lunch and a bit of shopping.  I didn't want to spend much money but I did find these two sets of earrings which I really liked.  I found both pairs in Animal which is a shop that I never usually go into and did not actually realise that they did such pretty jewellery.

I also bought a bun ring a few days earlier.  I know these have been around for years but I have never tried one before but as I am trying to be a bit more adventurous with my hair styles I decided to give it a go and these were the results, which I was very happy with!

I like this product because it helps to create a nice neat bun and also makes it look like you have lots of thick hair!  The effect is quite different to the type of bun that the spin pins achieve so I am happy to have added another style to my repertoire!  I am happy to be able to say goodbye to the days of only having two hair options, either hair down or in a ponytail and wish I had had the patience to try more styles out a long time ago!

Dry Shampoo Review

I am growing the layers out of my hair and also I want the whole length to get a few inches longer, so, as the hairdresser always suggests, I try to wash it every couple of days rather than every day.  Sometimes I find that my fringe can look a bit greasy as I have a bad habit of pushing it out of my eyes all day, so I have tried out some brands of dry shampoo to help me keep my hair looking fresh for longer.  It is also brilliant for when you have just washed your hair and want to put it in an updo but its too silky.

The first product is by the brand Batiste and is the cheapest, I also believe this one is probably the easiest to find in the shops.  The pros to this brand are the cost, around £2 for the can, and the range of dry shampoos that they offer.  There are a series of different smells and also one with a hint of blonde and one with a hint of brunette (pictured).  It does also make your hair feel fresh.  The major con is that this product comes out very white and you can't actually brush out the powdery look.  I have tried the plain version and the hint of brunette version and the brunette one actually looks gray!
The next product is by Label M and this is my favourite of the 3 dry shampoos.  I got this one from my hairdresser's salon and it works brilliantly, giving a matt effect.  The product does still come out a bit white if you hold the can too close but when you brush your hair that soon comes out.  My friend has this dry shampoo by the same brand that she bought via Ebay, but she found one with a pink stripe on the packaging, and when she sprayed my hair from about a 1cm away there was no white residue at all!  I shall be keeping my eye out for that one next!
The 3rd product is by Mark Hill, Style Secrets and this is also a very good dry shampoo, it does come out a little bit white and won't brush out completly but if you have lighter coloured hair then it is an ideal product to try!  You can also purchase this product in Boots which is very handy (I would also recommend the other products in this range, I have tried most of them out myself!)

Hot Spiced Chick Peas

I'm not a very good cook but as my son is nearly 5 months old now I have been working hard to get back into my pre pregnancy clothes recently so I have been trying out some low fat recipes.  My husband loves anything spicy we choose to try this Hot Spiced Chick Peas dish this week.  This is a really easy recipe and also quick to make which is very handy with a little baby around!

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garum masala
4 large firm tomatoes, chopped tomatoes
425g can chick peas, drained
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
salt and freshly ground black pepper
coriander leaves to garnish

1)  Heat the oil in a small saucepan, add the onion and cook for 5/10 minutes, stirring constantly until golden brown
2) Add the spices and cook for a further minute.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas, lemon juice and coriander.  Season well to taste.  Cook for 1/2 minutes
3) Spoon into a warmed bowl, garnish with coriander.

These quantities serve 2 people and provide 205 calories per serving. 
The recipe suggests serving with rice but we actually had this with a chicken breast which worked really well!  I should also mention that we did change a few ingredients a tiny bit to fit in with what we had in the cupboard, so we swapped the fresh tomatoes for a can of chopped ones and we left out the coriander but it still turned out really yummy!

Unfortunatley I was so keen to try this that I forgot to take a photo before we tucked in!
I would recommend this recipe as a great low calorie but tasty meal!

Recent Buys

Hello!  I just wanted to show a few things I have bought whilst out and about recently!

Firstly here are my new earrings, I got these in Topshop and paid £6 if I remember correctly, they are made from a gold wire wrapped round in a heart shape design.  I like these drop earrings as I will be able to wear these with lots of different outfits,casual or more dressed up. 

I also got these 2 new nail polish colours, the one on the left is named Impulse and is a clear polish with a lot of pearly glitter through it, it looks very pretty shining under the light.  The polish on the right is named Smooch a baby pink with a gold shimmer through it, I decided to wear this polish today and love the result, however I did realise that I have a YSL polish already that comes out practically the same! Opps! This colour would look really good with a tan too and will go with most outfits.

Finally I came across these nail glitter pots by GOSH.  I was intrigued as I often wear Rockstar nails on my toes, which is where glitter is encapsulated into UV gel, which leaves a far more sparkly and long lasting result than a glitter polish.  The instructions on the box say to simply apply one coat of clear nail varnish and dip your nail into the pot.  I found this product to have good and bad points.  Firstly the colours are really vibrant and there is a good range to choose from.  I also like the fact that the glitter is very fine which looks better than a chunky glitter.  The points I didn't enjoy about this product is that the pot was too small to dip your finger in to coat the whole nail (I have short nail beds so this would be even more of an issue for most people) and I found that I had to pour the glitter over the nail, which is messy and I had to collect the glitter onto a piece of paper so that I didn't waste it all.  I also decided to put a top coat onto my nails to set the glitter and waited a good 10 minutes before using a brush to wipe off the excess glitter, however as you can see in the picture some of the glitter chipped away in chunks (thumb and pinky).  Finally despite leaving a small gap all around the edge of my nail I found that the glitter stuck to the edges of my fingers so it looked a bit messy, this would fall away naturally over time but I didn't want to scrub too hard after the chunks had started to come away.  This is also a time consuming way to decorate your nails so I would imagine that it would be frustrating for it to start chipping after a couple of days.  Overall a fun product but I think I shall save the glitter for my next set of gel Rockstar nails rather than follow the product instructions.

GOSH nail polish and matte effect top coat

I have been shopping again for more nail polish!  I love all nail art and try to experiment all the time to constantly have something different on my nails.  I did buy a red matte polish from Claire's a few months ago and really liked it as an alternative look to super shiny nails but I have not come across many matte polishes since so I was excited to find this matte top coat as I can now turn any colour matte, or even try painting in a a few patterns using the topcoat.  Below is a picture of the result on my ring finger compared to my other nails polished with a normal topcoat.

I also bought shades 554 Gold and 596 Miss Mole (pictured on nails) from the range and really like both colours.  The gold is a very pretty, light, yellow toned gold with a lot of shimmer and Miss Mole is a perfect neutral shade to wear with any outfit.  You do need at least 2 coats but that is standard and I have also found that these polishes last a good time before starting to chip, about 3/4 days, having tried out a lot of brands I think that is an excellent result!  I got these polishes from Superdrug and there is a really great range of colours.

 Here is a swatch of the Claire's matte polish, the gold underneath is their 'suede' look polish but in my opinion it comes out pretty similar to the matte effect, with an added bit of shimmer.  These polishes take 3 coats for a really even depth of colour but the overall result is nice.

Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper Review

This is another Essence nail polish that I was sent as a gift from my friend in Italy and I wanted to do a review on it as I think it may be my favourite glitter polish ever!

The shade is called 02 Circus Confetti, which I love, and is really apt for the effect that the polish leaves!  It is a clear base with multi coloured pieces of glitter floating inside, and I have counted 4 different sizes of glitter in there.

I love this polish because you can wear it in many different ways, layering it up to create as sparse or dense an effect as you like, the picture was 2 coats.  The photo really does not do this polish justice as the colours are so bright and the glitter is very shiny!

This polish also looks really effective over another colour and since there are so many colours in there really does match with most outfits! 

I shall be keeping my eye out for Essence's white prism effect nail topper next!  As mentioned before there are not many places to buy Essence polish in the UK but I have seen some on Amazon so I shall have a look there!

Bathtime Treats

Here are a few of my favourite products to use whenever I get the rare opportunity for a soak in the bath!  These potions really are thes best smelling bath products I have come across!   

The first bottle on the left of the photo is a Bath milk by Original Source, the scent is Almond and Coconut but actually this smells exactly like a cherry bakewell, only downsides being that this does not make many bubbles (being a milk I don't believe that it is meant to) and the scent doesn't stick around for long once the bath has been drawn, however it is very nourishing for the skin!  The scrub in the centre is by Soap & Glory and has a lovely maple syrup scent, I find that this product does its job well and leaves my skin feeling very soft.  It uses oat, sugar, banana, almond and honey extracts so you can see why this smells so good! The bottle on the right of the picture is by n-spa and actually comes in a set of 4, this one is by far my favourite although all the bath syrups did smell good.  This scent is hot butter fudge and the smell is true to its name - also in the set were ginger bread, hot chocolate waffle and chocolate cranberry.  This product also makes lots of lovely bubbles for your bath! 

I would urge everybody who has a sweet tooth and likes a soak to try these products out as they smell so good, but you might want to take a treat into the bathroom with you!

Cute OOTD

Today's outfit of the day was a gift from my sister just yesterday!  She was out shopping and said she couldn't resist when we came across this cute baby get up, not least because it features a perfect Charlie dog!  These items come as a set from Debenhams bluezoo baby collection and although I do not know the price I believe they are included in the current Debenhams sale, so if you fancy this ensemble for your little one be sure to visit the store soon!

Lip Stain Review - GOSH Long Lasting Lip Marker

Looking through my make up collection I realised that most of my lip colours are nude/pink glosses, how boring!  I want to start being a bit more adventurous with my make up looks so I decided to purchase a lip stain.  I opted to try GOSH Long Lasting Lip Marker in 003 Berry.  I am very impressed with this lip colour, as you would expect the product is highly pigmented and it is a bright fushia shade, the product is also berry fragranced which is a nice touch! I found that the product dries quickly after application and I love the way it doesn't feel thick or sticky like a gloss or lipstick would. The colour does  fade towards the centre of your mouth after eating/drinking, so its best to top up after a meal, however you would have to do this with a gloss or lipstick and the lipstain lasts a lot longer before you have to re-apply! Unfortunatley I could not get a good photo of the colour on my lips, but the swatch on my hand does look the same as the shade does on my mouth.  Overall I really liked this lipstain and will be purchasing a few more shades soon!   

Essence Magnetics Nail Polish

This week my kind friend sent me some magnetic nail polish from Italy!  I have wanted this polish for a while but I cannot find a stockist in the UK so I was very happy when she offered to buy me some and send it over! You basically apply this polish as usual then use a magnet over the top to draw the particals into lines to create a pretty effect.  In this photo I have used Hex Hex, which is the colour on the far right.  I love this polish, I think it is really good fun and I am looking forward to trying the other 4 colours I was sent!

Goody Simple Styles

In my quest for keeping my hair in good condition I have been on the look out for hair styling contraptions that stop me straightening it every day, so when I saw the recent advert for the Goody spin pin I thought I should give them a go.  The range is by the brand Goody and is called Simple Styles, there are 4 different products in total but I have only purchased the spin pin and modern updo pin so far.  Both pins are really easy to use, for both styles you simply start off by twisting your hair into a bun, then either 1) twist in the spin pins (you get 2 in a pack and will need to use both unless your hair is very fine) from the top and bottom to create a fast bun (without the hassle of using hundreds of bobby pins) or 2) insert the updo pin, then lift it upwards and then press downwards to secure the pin into your hair.  Both products come with clear instructions on how to create 3 styles each and both are available in 'blonde' or 'dark hair' colourways.  You can currently buy these products in Asda, Boots or Morrisons.  A very good buy for anyone who finds styling hair tricky but wants to try something a bit different!

Both pictures added are results from using the Modern updo pin and I shall add some soon from the spin pin results

Hair care favourites!

After having my hair cut into a bob (I had no real choice as it started to break after being dyed blonde) 2 years ago it has finally got to a length that I like!  I am hoping to grow it a couple of inches longer but my hair does tend to stop a few inches below shoulder length so I shall have to wait and see!  To help me keep my hair in the best condition possible I have been using a Lee Stafford product, simply called 'For hair that never grows past a certain length' for about a year and Moroccan Oil since February this year.  I would highly recommend both of these products!  The Lee Stafford product smells really good and conditions the hair so well and the Moroccan oil makes your hair so shiny!  Both products are designed to be used every few washes so I tend to alternate between one wash with Lee Stafford, one with Moroccan oil and then one without either, then begin the cycle again. You can get the Lee Stafford product in Boots or similar and I believe that the Moroccan oil range is also available in most shops, however I got mine from the hairdresser directly. 

Nemo Jellies!

I saw these Nemo jellies in the Disney Store a while ago and thought they were so cute! I was planning to get a pair for my son but when I went back this week they were completley sold out of the blue style (they also have them in pink) and the shop assistant told me that they would not be getting in any more :(  When I got home I had a look online and they only had age 6-12 months left so quickly I ordered some, we had to pay almost the same again in postage costs but I think it was definitley worth it! They have arrived already so we are looking forward to a summer of wearing them!

Fish Pedicure!

After hearing so much about these Fish Pedicures I went for it on Tuesday and it was not as scary as I had imagined!
The best way to describe the sensation is like a vibration all over your feet, which takes a few minutes to get used to but does actually become quite relaxing!  I did spend the first couple of minutes laughing as it is quite a tickly feeling and since I went in by myself I expect the other customer's thought I was a bit strange!
Although my feet are not completley smooth just yet the result is definitley noticable and I have booked in again for next week as recommended by the salon staff so hopefully should have super smooth feet in a few weeks time!