New York "haul" and other stories (picture heavy)

Hey!
I got back on thursday morning (6am if you will!) and I was sooooo jet lagged hahah I was very grumpy all day :P. It's taken me this long to unpack, adjust to my old life ;) and to change my polish!
I'll show you what I bought and then if you wish you can stick around to look at more pictures, mainly of food, and hear about what I did :).

I know you'll be expecting a mahoosive haul, I was expecting to go cray but I got ill; I had a sore throat and couldn't talk and spent the two shopping days in bed!!! Can you believe it! I had to go to the doctors and I got these massive hideous anti-biotics to take :(. I managed about an hour of shopping before I had to go back to the hostel, I nearly didn't go in Sephora! I'd spent days before when we were being tourists saying "no no I'm going in Sephora when we have more time". I'm so glad they covinced me to go in, it did make me feel a little better ;).

Anyway I only got two lipsticks from MAC, one which is too pale for my coloured lips :( but I love the other! Then we went into Sephora and I got Illamasqua Poke and SpaRitual Dreamsicle (neon) and then from Rite-Aid I got Essie Turquoise and Caicos just cos it was soooo cheap!

If all you wanted was polish, now would be the time to go, I have created a grungey nail look using the neon which I'll show in a couple of days so come back for that!

I had to photograph my beasty tablets!

I like the fact that I got the classic pill bottle though ;).

Some food pictures? These are off my phone so excuse the quality

Our first meal was free massive pizza, the hostel did a pizza night :) a slize was as big as my head I promise!

Had to get my nails in there ;) see how big it is? It was real yummy too, they bought about 7 of these and then when we were leaving they bought even more in!
The next day we went to the ICP and then we got tickets to be in the audience of the David Letterman Late Show which was really cool, the guests were a comedian (Jerry someone?? I don't know but he was funny) and Dave Grohl!!! Soo cooool. Whilst we were waiting though we went to get lunch in Steak 'n' Shake which is next door to the theatre. I had fries as I don't like beef...I asked for large fries....

Is it bad that I ate all those??

 

Next day we were at MoMA all day so we just went to MacDonalds and got hassled by a guy wanting 2 dollars for his train home cos he'd just lost his wallet....we just ignored him lol! I did take a photo of the ketchup though, Fancy Ketchup is just too funny!

 

One evening we went to Dunkin' Donuts....why not :P I had the Brownie Batter Donut....it was quite yummy ;) I'm still waiting on photos from Emmmmmma!!

One of my favourite things that we did was the Highline! The views were lovely and we just had a really fun time up there, plus we got off in downtown and went to this market that had really cool photography inside :D





On our last night we went to this diner and I was still feeling ill but I wanted food but not a lot (hard to find such a thing in America ;)) anyway I ordered Chicken Fingers off the snack menu and this came....

They ain't fingers....they were like 4 chicken breasts! Needless to say I couldn't eat all that!
The final morning we went to a different diner for brunch and most of us had pancakes, especially chocolate chip.....again huuuuuuge

My nails looked real bad at this point, my topcoat (seche Vite) had started to just fall off?? I think it might have been cos we kept going from literally freezing to hot but still it was so strange!

This next photo is something that you Americans might not find so amazing but for me it was like waaaaaah

!! The soup can is real! LOL I had to buy it hahahah. I won the best photo from the hostel with this ;).

Last photo is of me! :O It's a few of us in Hill Country Chicken with our lecturers having dinnnner, I'm the one goofing in the left with short ginger hair ;)  don't know where I'm looking lol!

There you go a very quick overview of my amazing trip! I HAVE to go back now, there's just so much I didn't do (shopping!!) or see or eat ;).

When I got back my nails were in such bad shape literally! I nearly took a photo but I didn't want to put y'all through that ;).

Hope you've enjoyed!

New yooooooork

New york, new york newwww yoooooork (singing that...) So I am off at 3am :D I cannot wait! My nails for the occasion are a little underwhelming to be honest....just accents of flags and then plain colour (I chose Nails Inc Baker Street after this photo was taken)

 

 

WARNIN' Nekked nails ahead, you've been warned!

 



The base is OPI Swimsuit Nailed it of course ;) my lines are a bit wonky on the American flag but hey I was using my left hand ;) ahhh I just didn't know what else to put on the other fingers so I just went plain. I actually went out with my nails like this! Hahaha. The American flag was inspired by The Illustrated Nail, my fav.

 

You know when I get back I'll show ya'll my purchases (just polish or beauty etc too?) and pictures. Weeeeheeeee.

 

 

See you when I'm back!!

Donut nail art and a croissant?!

Helllooooo. I'm happy because I got a good grade for my first project of year 2 woohoo I thought I was going to do pretty bad but I got pretttty good :). Also I finally got my mits on 3 Rimmel Apocalips and I see what all the fuss is about :D and finally people were very complimentry and shocked at my donuts ;). You know that feeling you get when they say "did you do that yourself......nooooo! It's so good" Hahahahahahah best feeling ever!

 

Yeah I have been trying to do some nail art but all I could think about were donuts, I don't like donuts to eat but I like them on nails so I had to get them out of my system so I could get on with my nail art life :P. There's not much else to say....the base is Illamasqua Caress of course :).

 



 

In my defense this croissant is rather round and it has a hole ;) hehe. I think I like these lol! My right hand donuts aren't outlined because life's too short for that, ain' nobody got time for that! (please tell me someone gets that reference!!) plus my nail art pen is dying, the polish has started getting gloopy and stringy so it would have been too much effort :P no one seemed to notice anyway so it don't mattttter.

As most of you probably know I'm going to NEW YORK!!! Next week man! So I was wondering if anyone knows the best make up shops, cheap eateries, bakeries esp for macaroons (need my macaroon hit!) thrift shops etc etc We are going to Sephora cos how could I not!!! We are staying in Chelsea for reference. Weeeeee so excited! Any good galleries also, we are going to MoMA and Whitney.

Another gorgeous Illamasqua swatch - Caress

Hi! Another day another Illamasqua beauty! They really are my favourites :) Caress is a pale blue that is by no means a boring snoozy baby blue, it is soft but bright which makes for a very flattering combination. No lobster hands here. This is the perfect Cinderella blue, the colour of her ball gown is this colour in my head :D.

 

Warning: Mahoosive ridges ahead....I had no time to smooth them with topcoat! Sorrrrry.

 



 

Two smooth coats. Dries lovely and glossy on its own. Quick dry time. Perfection in a bottle!!! If you've never tried an Illamasqua polish I implore you to get at least one! I haven't heard much about Caress as it's quite an old polish but for me it deserves more attention!

 

Check back soon for some tasty nail art ;) oooh spoilers ;P

 

Have a good week! 

Illamasqua Radium Swatches

Hello, today's swatch is a colour that won't be to everyone's tastes but is totally mine and probably yours too Lizzy ;). Radium is a bright lime/electric green with darker green shimmer throughout, this doesn't make it shimmery but it adds dimension and shine to the colour. The shimmer is visible under artificial lighting though and it looks great!  

You are probably bored of hearing me rave about Illamasqua's quality so I'll skip it ;) but just so you know, this was a perfect two coater....

This colour is real bright but not neon bright which is a nice way to enter the neon trend I think, good for spring/summer but I loved wearing it now in winter, got a few dodgey looks from people thinking I had moldy nails but meh muggles will never understand a colour like this and that's why I love Illamasqua sooooo much :). 

                                       

I love their bottles, they feel so nice to hold and are easy on the eye ;). I've been eyeing up the new collection I'mperfection and am thiiiiis close to getting two of the speckled polishes, they're just so cute but I don't think I will as I can imagine only wearing them once (look at me being all mature and reasonable! What's happened??) but yeah, they look good on shorter nails, probably wouldn't look so good on mine ;). 

If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen that I did do some nail art over this but I just couldn't decide and ended up disliking it and took it off within a couple of minutes of having it on :P so I didn't take a picture but you can see it in the instagram side box thing here if you wish. 

What do you think to Radium? Yay or nay? 

Simple Heart nail art with tutorial

 

Hey, this is a little later than I'd like to be posting but my boyf is suffering from glandular fever, jaundice and now a horrible rash so I've been looking after him/been at the hospital and doctors so I've finally had a chance to do my nails as he is starting to recover....we hope :)

Anywho Illamasqua Kink was such a pain to remove, it stained my cuticles as I was removing it boo for nasty cuticles! I put this pink Nails Inc on for something simple to cover up my stains but it ended up needing 4 coats!! It was very streaky :( I don't like the colour, it's too barbie pink :P.

As the Vday is round the corner (so it New York!!) I decided I could do a really simple mani before I take this colour off. I saw this nail art in this months Company magazine and it was created by the nail genius The Illustrated nail. Of course the models nails were a lot shorter than mine so I have adapted it to look good on my nails but it looks great on short nails!

 

 

1. You only need one base colour and either a red striper or a striping brush and red polish (you could use a nail art pen if you have one, I prefer the clean edges that a striper gives) Hope I'm spelling striper right.... ;)

2. Paint your base colour and let dry fully.

3. Using your striper (or whatever you're using) make a line from the tip in the centre to the edges of your nail, depending on how pointed you want the hearts tip to be (mine are quite sharp) will determine how far up your nail the lines go.

4. Above the two lines, on shorter nails (read normal non talon length) this should be just under the base of your nail, draw an upside down v.

5. Join your v to the two exisiting lines with a curved line on either side. Try to keep the inner side clean, it doesn't matter if the outer edge is a bit wobbly as you'll be covering it up.

6. Neaten the outer edge, making them the same thickness as the bottom lines or colour all the way to the base of your nail. You should now have really cute heart outline nails! Yay :)

 



 

 

I did two versions, the one on my ring finger is just a thicker version of the above. It looks great on short nails as it covers the whole nail rather than 3/4s, it's super cute for vday and it's quick and simple too :).

Sorry about my horrid ridges! Not even 4 coats of polish can tame them :(.

I've started to think of my NY nails.....eeeee

 

Let me know if you're going to give it a go! I'll pop these onto my tutorials page :) 

Illamasqua Kink swatches

Hey, tonight I have the beauty that is Illamasqua Kink from the Theatre of the Nameless collection, which was the first collection I saw from Illamasqua and I wanted these rubber finish polishes as soon as I saw them but I wasn't into spending a lot of money on make up then ;).

Kink is exactly my kind of colour, green and earthy, it reminds me a lot of Essie Going Incognito actually which is a colour I love :). As you'd expect from Illamasqua it was nearly opaque in one coat but I ended up doing three, you all know how deep my ridges are :(, but if you have nice smooth nails two would be plenty!

 



 

These are swatches without topcoat and you can see that the finish is still shiny but not glossy. I personally love the finish, I prefer it to straight matte to be honest, there's just something about the softness.

The pictures are pretty colour accurate in my opinion, forest green I believe!

 

My giveaway ended on sunday and I finally got around to picking the winner and I've already emailed her, the winner was Zsuzsa Vamosi! So congratulations to her :) yay! Thanks to everyone who entered! 

Hope you enjoyed