Review: Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy

I hadn't bought any nail polish in a while and just couldn't resist. I seem to have an need to buy things in green or blue right now and 'High Stakes' fitted the bill perfectly. Colour Envy is billed as gel-like polish. You don't need a base coat, just two coats of colour and a Diamond top coat. What I quite liked was there was no promise of it lasting a certain amount of time so I didn't get my hopes up for it lasting a week.

FOTD: Two Year Anniversary

I shared my Anniversary make-up look last year, and I'm doing the same thing again this year. It's been two whole years since Karl and I got together. This year we celebrated by going on an adventure to Windsor Great Park and having a wander. My feet still hurt which probably shows I need to up the exercise quota.

Painting IKEA Furniture: Melamine

Leading on from the post about painting wood, today I'm talking about the trickier substance of melamine. Not being a fan of the pure white look of it, we decided to add even more colour to our rooms. The shiny surface of melamine can make it difficult to paint because the paint doesn't want to stick. Here is how we managed it. I didn't take that many photos as we went along this time so no fancy slideshow!

#GiveItAGoDaily New Trends

No video this week, but I'm going to be talking about some new trends. The Boots Review Panel is a great thing, you register, give them some details about yourself and then wait for things to arrive on your doorstep. Best of all, it's free.

It was through this that I was sent one of the 'Give It A Go Campaign' boxes. I have box one, I'm not sure how many there are or whether you can purchase the boxes themselves. The products contained within however are all readily available.

My boyfriend cut my hair?!

No, this isn't some new tag, the sequel to the 'My boyfriend does my make-up' one. Although, if you want to do this, I'm not stopping you.

My hair was well over due a trim, and with money being tight this month I came up with a crazy plan. I'd hand my boyfriend a pair of scissors and get him to do it. Things to be noted, my boyfriend is not a trained hairdresser, he's an engineer, which meant I could at least trust him to know what a straight line look like. And while we were fiddling around with hair I decided we'd dye it as well. Because why only take one risk at once right?

Review: Revlon ColorStay Concealer

I am a concealer junkie and spend my life hunting for the perfect one. The Make Up Forever Full Cover concealer comes close, but is a little on the expensive side. I have an on/off relationship with the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer and can find it a little drying for my skin. The Nars Radiant Creamy concealer has a great consistency but mine is running out. With all that in mind when I saw Lily Pebbles' post on the Revlon ColorStay concealer I knew I had to give it a try.

5 Ways With: Urban Decay Naked Palette

I love my Naked Palette. I've got so much used out of it since I got it and it's easily my most reached for one. For today's "5 Ways With" I thought I'd demonstrate 5 looks you can get out of it...cue weird close up pictures of my eyes. Sorry.

 

Cushion Wishlist

This might seem a weird thing to have wishlist for, but hear me out. Cushions are the easiest way to brighten up any room, and are interchangeable for the different seasons. We have a few at the moment that I made for us, as I think that cushions can be a little overpriced. So this is part wishlist and part inspiration for my next DIY.

Video: Hair Care and Styling Routine

Following on from Tuesday's talk about shampoo's I don't like, here's some things I do like. I got my hair cut and dyed at the weekend (more to come on that) and now it's much shorter I'm styling it differently. Well, I'm styling it.

Surviving a Long Distance Relationship

You might have realised if you've been a regular reader of this blog over the last few weeks that I recently moved in with my boyfriend. This brought to an end a very long period of long distance, around 600 days. Not that I was counting. With it being the time of year when people go off to university and cosy at-home relationships suddenly find themselves many miles apart I thought I'd impart some advice of my own.

Review: The Shampoo Edit

Today I am reviewing not one, but two shampoos. As a bit of background my hair is extremely thick but does lack volume at the crown, it's bleached at the ends and gets greasy very quickly, with added sensitive scalp. I also hate washing it, so anything that keeps it clean for longer is good.

The two shampoos (and technically one conditioner) up for consideration are: Dove Oxygen Moisture and L'Oreal Elvive Colour Protect Caring shampoo* and conditioner*. I should probably mention that I am very picky when it comes to shampoo and rarely buy the same one twice.

OOTD: Black Milk Clothing

Contrary to popular opinion, I firmly believe that leggings are pants. Once you've invested in a few good pairs of nude seamless underwear (M&S always) then you're good to go.

Today, I'm going to talk about Black Milk. They're an Australian clothing company who began making awesome leggings and now make awesome leggings, swims, bodysuits, skirts, dresses, t-shirts, bomber jackets.....etc. I bought my first pair way back in 2012 and have been obsessed  ever since.

Painting IKEA Furniture: Wood

IKEA furniture comes with a certain 'look' and for some people, that's the look they want and that's fine. But we felt that being in a rented flat with plain walls and little manoeuvre in terms of decorating that we might has well do what we could to add some colour into the rooms.

Before...

The steps to take are fairly simple, and don't actually differ much between various surfaces, but I will be covering melamine in a later post. Overall, this didn't cost us much at all to do.

Video: Make Up Collection and Storage

Following on from yesterday's post, here's a video that goes in to a bit more detail about how my make up collection is organised.

Make Up Collection and Storage

An interior design post appearing on a Wednesday? No, this isn't a scheduling error, this post links to tomorrow's video so keep an eye on my YouTube channel for that.

I don't have the largest of collections compared to some collections and storage videos and posts out there. But what I do have is a very little flat and needing to share space with my boyfriend. I felt I couldn't take up the whole of the top of the chest of drawers, but also I couldn't get a huge piece of furniture to store everything in.

Review: Make Up For Ever Full Cover Camouflage Cream

Possibly the longest product name ever in the title there....

I'm finally getting round to reviewing the main purchase from my Sephora trip in France, the cult MUFE concealer to give it its shortened name. This is what I wanted to get, and I was so excited to find it. And gutted when I got home and realised the colour was slightly off...

In the Navy

When I was around 15/16 and we could finally wear make-up at school (although, I'd been doing it for years by then) I used to ring navy blue eyeliner around my eyes. I used a colour from a Front Cover kit and their shadow line which turned any eye shadow into a liner. And actually worked quite well.

I'm usually seen with a more neutral lid going on, but occasionally I like to wear a pop of colour. But this time the brand of choice is Sleek.

No Storage? No Problem: What's in my bathroom?

This is the first of a series of little tours around different areas of our flat. Starting in the bathroom. Originally I was going to make this a video, but it was so cringe worthy and awkward I figured a post would do.

Our bathroom has no storage. At all. So getting something to put everything in was top priority after we'd moved in. It took us ages to find the perfect thing though, eventually we settled on this from Argos. It's definitely more substance over style, but it more than adequately serves its purpose. Four huge drawers ready to be filled with mostly my stuff as my boyfriend's idea of a skincare routine is soap and Vaseline body moisturiser.

Here are some photos of it in situ, the others are all taken in the sitting room as the light is better in there.

The British Tag: Scotland V England

Today's video had a special guest in the form of my boyfriend Karl. I've seen a lot of British tag answers go around and a lot of them have struck me as very London-centric. So I thought it would be good to get the opinion of someone who is from about as far away from London as you can get.

The top of the UK (basically)

Moving Into Your First Flat

This isn't technically the first time I have lived away from home. While a student I spent two years in halls of residences and a year living with friends in a house. But living away from Mum and Dad when not a student is different.

First of all you have way more freedom about your space. We were never allowed to make holes in the walls in my student days, but we are here. Plus, unless you live in a house share, the whole space is yours to do with as you wish.

Review: Eyeko Skinny Liners

I had high hopes for the Eyeko Skinny Liners, they get a lot of love from people and are heavily backed by Alexa Chung. Personally, I'm a big fan of felt tip liners, I know some people aren't but I find them really easy to use and work with.

A couple of months ago Glamour magazine were giving away a free Eyeko Skinny Liner with each copy, I got two copies to try both colours. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that impressed.

The New Schedule

The start of a new month is always a good time to start something new. This September, for the first time since I was 4, I'm not starting a new year of education. And that feels a bit odd. 

What I am doing though is throwing myself into this blog and a Distance Learning course I'm doing (because I can't not be learning something, even if it isn't at school). So here's the schedule you can look forward to for the next couple of months.