Wow, I can hardly believe it's the end of August already! Time is flying by and I'm starting my 3rd year of uni in a couple of weeks, eek! Anyway, here are my August nails...
First up we have Rimmel I ♥ Lasting Finish in Hot Shot, this is an old favourite of mine as it's just a simple, gorgeous hot pink. If I'm feeling a little down or under the weather when I use this it never fails to make me feel a bit better. The power of pink, haha!
Here I have another Rimmel offering, this time from the 60 Second range in the shade Mary Mary Quite Contrary. This is quite similar to Models Own Utopia I believe and is a lovely, subtle off-white lilac shade. I have also painted my ring finger with a top coat of Models Own Jack Frost to give a little glitter.
Lastly, we have Seventeen Lasting Fix in Mint Choc Chip. I actually spotted this in the reduced to clear section of my local Boots for £1 and thought I'd give it a go as I liked the colour. I was however, disappointed as this looks more like a china blue than a minty green in daylight. This wouldn't have bothered me but I already have two other pastel blues so didn't really need another! Another disappointment was that this chipped really easily (before I managed to get a picture!), even with top coat so only lasted a few days before I had to remove it.
On July 3rd I did something that I will remember for the rest of my life- a sponsored skydive! I mentioned in a previous post that I had been busy fundraising for charity, the charity was Helen and Douglas House, a hospice for children and young people based in Oxford. My older sister, Jemma was diagnosed with a rare genetic illness at the age of 2 and died at the age of 7, when I was 3. Helen House (as it was then- Douglas House was added later) opened its doors as the first children's hospice in the world the same year that Jemma was born and she started going there for respite care a couple of years later, after her diagnosis. Helen House provided invaluable care to Jemma and support to my family and is remembered as a happy and homely place to be.
As Jemma would've been turning 30 last August, the same year as Helen House were celebrating their 30th anniversary, my family decided to raise money for H&DH to commemorate these events throughout the year ending in August this year. We organised various events including a bake sale and a 'Jazzfrezi' curry night with live jazz music, raffle and auction but it was my uncle's idea to do a skydive and as I had always wanted to do one, I jumped at the chance! Overall we raised over £3,000 which we are all really proud of!
Our first jump was actually rescheduled due to bad weather after we'd sat at the skydive centre for around 4 hours staring at the clouds willing them to clear! Our second attempt was more successful though, and on the day of our jump we arrived at the centre, went through our training brief again (make like a banana!) then waited around for a few people to jump before us which was great to watch! Finally, when it was our turn we went and got our suits on and met our tandem instructors. My instructor was really friendly and although I (surprisingly) wasn't nervous made me feel at ease, making jokes and teasing me about my footwear choice (my colourful Fred Perry plimsolls!). The atmosphere was so relaxed that it didn't really occur to me to be nervous, even the pilot drove up to the plane in a golf buggy dressed in shorts, t-shirt and trainers. Having only ever seen commercial pilots it was funny to see one without the posh uniform etc.! After all the waiting (about 4 months!) I was bursting to do it so jumped on the plane and thought to myself 'I'm going to enjoy every second of this, I'm not going to waste any time being nervous' and it honestly worked!
As we were gradually climbing above the clouds and I knew that I would be first to jump, I focused my mind on enjoying the experience and remembering what I needed to do during the jump. Before I knew it, the doors were being opened and my instructor (very securely strapped to my back) started pushing me down the bench, onto the floor of the plane and out of the door! One minute I was sat on the edge, the next I was hanging out the door with my arms folded and head back and a second after that I could see the plane that I'd just jumped out of!
OMG, I was falling through the air belly up! Another second later and I was up the right way with my arms out. After a gulp of cold air, I caught my breath and opened my eyes to see the camera man filming right in front of me! The feeling was incredible, I really can't express how amazing it was to feel the wind, so fresh and cold in my face, to hear it rushing past my ears like when you're driving fast with the windows open and the feeling of freedom and invincibility! My instructor encouraged me to pull silly faces at the camera and move my arms around to feel the effect it had on our speed and direction but all I could think was 'I can't believe it!' and shouted this several times at the camera man along with lines like 'this is f***ing AMAZING!' and 'WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!', haha!
All too soon it was time for my instructor to pull the cord and release the parachute, I just remember seeing the camera man pull his first and then disappear through the clouds before I was yanked upright and we too began a slow descent through the clouds. As we peeked through the clouds and the ground became visible my ears started really hurting, I had to hold my nose and blow several times to re-pressurise them like I'd been told to do. My instructor asked me how I was doing and started loosening a few straps to make to ride to the ground a bit more comfortable. We enjoyed the wonderful views for a while and did a few loopy tricks to impress the spectators before my instructor got me to practise my landing position and then pointed out my family on the ground as they came into view. I gave them a good old wave before we again assumed the landing position and gently made contact with the grass. I immediately wanted to go up again and couldn't wait to go and tell everyone all about it! However, I noticed that my throat had become very dry and sore from the shouting, oops! I saw my uncle land seconds later and he too was ecstatic!
We collected our certificates, photos and DVD and made our way home, still on a high. It was a fantastic experience and one that I will definitely have to repeat!
Finally, if you fancy watching the video here it is on YouTube!
There was only one set of nail polishes I wore throughout July and these were the Color Club Wanderlust Collection polishes exclusively from BirchBox. I first heard about these through FleurDeForce and Zoella and as soon as I saw their pictures I knew I had to have them! These were included in the June BirchBox but in case you missed it or want to complete your collection, the set is £10 here. This collection consists of four gorgeous pastel neon shades named Reign in Spain (orange), London Calling (green), Pardon My French (lilac) and Mod in Manhattan (off-white).
I first wore just two of the shades (Reign in Spain and Pardon My French) and loved them so much that I wanted to try out the others straight after I finished wearing this combo! I was really impressed with how long these lasted without chipping, about 5 days using Seche Vite top coat. The finish was really glossy even without Seche Vite and the photos don't quite capture the intensity of these colours, they're beautiful!
The next time I used these polishes I couldn't resist including every colour! I love how Mod in Manhattan sets off the other 3 colours, I'd love to do some nail art with this as a base and some kind of neon splatter using the other three shades, hmm...
As you can probably tell, I'm a huge fan of these polishes and would definitely be interested to try out more from Color Club in the future.
Hi! Sorry it's been a while since my last post, I've been busy with a mixture of dissertation preparations and fundraising activities which hasn't left me much time for blogging recently. I hope to be able to start posting regularly again soon and have a few posts planned, but for now here are my June nails...
First up we have Butter London in Disco Biscuit. I'd had my eye on this for ages after seeing it reviewed by Fleur De Force and finally spent my Boots points on it. A gorgeous pink with a really fine blue glitter running through it and an unusual textured finish. Such a unique shade and one of my new favourites!
Next up is No.7 Stay Perfect polish in Paradise Love, a gorgeous, summery aqua with very fine gold/silver glitter and larger bits of blue glitter through it. For a metallic polish this lasted longer than I expected, very impressed!
Finally, we have the Essie Sleek Stick nail wraps in Love to Love You. Having only used nail wraps once (Minx on my toes, applied in a salon by a pro!) I found these incredibly easy to apply, just peel off the sheet, press onto the nail, fold the ends over and file off the excess (Essie even included a mini emery board!). Their shape and slight stretchy feel meant that the wraps could easily be placed over the nails and flattened down edge to edge meaning no creases or big gaps down the edges, I found the size choice was good and the wraps were plenty long enough to cover my nails. I had only wanted to wear these for one night but they lasted almost a week before they started to look worn and I removed them. I had loads of compliments whilst wearing these (and people trying to read them, haha!) and many thought that I'd had them done in a salon, definitely a bonus! Overall I really liked these and would definitely repurchase them and try out some other designs.
Wow, it's June already! Mr Sunshine is late to the party though surely, we keep seeing snippets of summer but nothing solid as yet. Anyway, here are my nail pics from throughout May...
Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots in Speckled Pink
Looks really cool but chipped so easily and needed the foil method to remove!
Models Own Lilac Dream with Revlon Girly over the top
Very impressed with how long lasting this was, 6 days totally chip free-amazing!
Models Own Pro Pinky Grey and Cuter Pewter
Lovely colours, Cuter Pewter is almost a rose gold with tiny holo glitter in which doesn't show up well in the photo. Not as chip resistant as I'd have hoped for from a Pro (£8 per bottle!) range though, maximum 2 days totally chip free.
If you don't like feet, look away now because here are my super sparkly toes...
Models Own Disco Mix, Emerald City and Magenta Devine
I have finally bitten the bullet and purchased 2 Butter London nail polishes (using my Boots points- woohoo!) so expect to see at least one of them in June's nails next month!
Hey girlies and happy Friday! This week I have a mask that isn't really a mask, it's the Soap & Glory Peaches & Clean cleansing milk. Whilst this is a very effective cleanser, Miss Budget Beauty also recommended using it as a mask and so as I already owned the product I thought I would give it a go!
First of all I will say that this smells gorgeous, almost like you could eat it! I usually use two pumps which I just apply to my face using my fingers. When I use this as a mask it's usually in the morning just before I get into the shower so I don't have any makeup on however, because this is actually a cleansing milk you probably could apply it over your makeup if you were using it at the end of the day. I leave it on whilst I'm in the shower for about 10 minutes then use the Soap & Glory Face Massage Mini Mitt to buff my skin before rinsing.
I took warning from Miss BB that this is a very active formula that you can feel tingling your skin as you wear it, so if you have sensitive skin or don't like that feeling then this product/way of using it may not be for you or you may want to leave it on for a shorter amount of time. The first time I used Peaches & Clean in this way I left it on a little too long (about 15 mins) and ended up looking very red in the face! This wouldn't have bothered me if it had been just before bed but it was in the morning and I was worried that it wouldn't go away, it did though after about an hour! Now I'm much more careful about how long I leave it on for (maximum 10 minutes) and still experience a little redness afterwards but it calms much quicker.
If you haven't been put off by that (I wasn't!) then I'll tell you that this is a fab cleanser and is equally great as a mask! My skin feels deeply cleansed, invigorated and super soft after using this and combined with the Face Massage Mitt my skin is exfoliated, looks plumper and more radiant.
Hello and happy Friday! Firstly, I'm sorry I missed FMF last week, I went to collect my Granma's dog as I'm looking after her this week and she's been keeping me so busy that I just didn't get done in time. We've had a great week anyway, it's been so much fun having her to stay and I'm writing this whilst she takes a nap beside me snoring!
Onto this weeks mask, which is the Montagne Jeunesse Lemon Zest Peel-Off Detox and Pore Cleansing Masque. Designed for normal, oily and combination skin types the mask contains a medley of natural ingredients including crushed ginger, green tea, seaweed, evening primrose, aloe vera and of course lemon, which all aim to deeply cleanse and revive skin, leaving a more radiant appearance.
As expected the mask was a clear, yellow colour and the formula quite runny but wasn't as sticky as other peel-offs I've tried. Applying the mask was easy, although slightly messy due to the consistency but not so much that I would be put off using it again, although I had to be more careful around my hairline and eyebrows as peel-off masks in hair are not fun! The mask felt cool and refreshing on my skin but one thing that surprised me was that it didn't smell of lemon! I was quite pleased by this as I'm not too keen on strong citrusy scents and whilst I can't describe what it did smell of (almost musky perhaps?) I did like it and it wasn't too strong. I wore the mask for the recommended 15-20 minutes, by which time it had dried evenly and was easy to peel-off.
After using the mask my skin was left feeling clean, soft and refreshed. My face was slightly oily before using the mask, but this oil was gently stripped away and didn't return the whole day, amazing! I also felt that my skin looked clearer and brighter after use and felt much smoother making makeup application easier and the results look better. You'll probably know by now that I'm a big fan of MJ masks, they've got a fantastic range, are affordable and really do the job. The Lemon Zest Peel-Off is no exception and I would definitely recommend and repurchase!
I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Poppy that I've taken this week as she's a cutie!
