Nail haul Elegant Touch & MUA // Be Your Own Nail Technician.

Morning ladies and possibly gents (who knows?)

I haven't written a post for a couple of days because I have been having a traumatic time with Cody :( so that has pre-occupied my mind. For those of you who don't know who Cody is, he is in fact my guinea pig :)I have written our story here if you would like to find out what the deal is with him. 

I will be writing an updated post in the next few days about what's been happening with him since. 

I thought I would just let y'all know that's where I have been anyway. :) 

Today's post is, as you can see from the above pic, nail related (ignore the concealer and the lip balm, I changed my post idea last minute). 

I would love to visit the nail salon every few weeks like a lot of women do, but I for one could not afford it. How I see it is, yes, some nail techs are pretty awesome at creating beautiful nails. But there are also some pretty awesome falsies about that give you the exactly same effect at a fraction of the price!!

I went to Superdrug (UK drugstore) the other day and wanted to treat myself to some new bit 'n' bobs, inexpensive for sure, as you all know I am currently jobless which sucks ass big time. And as I was walking around I came to the MUA (Makeup Academy) stand and noticed they had some new pastel coloured nail polishes in. I am into pastel colours at the moment as they are completely summery and fresh looking. And I also find that they are super flattering to whoever is wearing it. 

Their basic nail polish range is only £1 and I couldn't decide which colours to go for. The mint colour was an obvious choice for me as I LOVE that colour and the pastel blue was next in line. Then I thought "what the hell" just get all four. So I did. 

Again, 'Blogger' has a right old knack of changing the colour of my picture uploads, but as you can see the polishes are highly pigmented. Which is nice to see of course, but what every girl wonders is, what's the colour payoff like once applied to the nail and how many coats to achieve an even finish?

Well, the mint and the blue actually finish up pretty nicely, I applied two coats when using each colour and when dry it's fairly even and the colour payoff is true to the bottle. The mint wins though out of all four. Now the baby pink polish is a right let down. The colour payoff is awful and you would have to apply more than two coats to remotely get a slightly even finish. Not a fan of this polish at all, in every aspect of testing. They are only £1 though so my expectations weren't high, but I have tried cheap nail polishes before and got a way better result. 

I haven't tried the purple as of yet but I can only imagine it's going to go the same way as the pink colour I am afraid. 

Maaayyynnn. 

P.S. They are also pretty shiny when dry which is nice and if you are amazing at paining your own nails, and you have nice nails (unlike me) then you could get away with using these polishes or any other instead of visiting a salon.

D.I.Y is the best form of learning! 

How frickin awful are my nails. They are so thin and break constantly. 

Nightmare. 

Elegant Touch are by far my favourite brand of false nails. They are so versatile in design, shapes, colours and lengths there is something for everyone. Some of their nails are a little over priced I think, but the plain ones that you can paint yourself aren't too bad. 

 I usually buy the square 'bare' ones in extra short as they were the only ones in this brand that you can paint. This time round though, I noticed they had brought out two new 'bare' ones in 'oval' and 'stiletto'. I spent bloody ages in that isle trying to decide between the two. The 'oval' pack looked more natural, which I liked, but I have always wanted to try the 'stiletto' design that you can only usually get in the salon. 

I went for the stiletto, why play it safe?

I am yet to put these on, but I cannot wait until I do. 

I feel like a proper lady when I have false nails one. It's really sad. 

The little things in life. 

I am easily pleased! 

They look super pretty even unpainted.

If you would like to purchase some you can do so here. They are £4.65 and in a 'short' length.

Next, I brought two different Elegant Touch nail packs but this time from Savers (a discounted shop in the UK). 

I love going into Savers as they always have some cool nails in stock that are WAY cheaper than Boots & Superdrug. I picked these up on passing through the store. 

Believe it or not these were £1.99 each...I repeat £1.99 each!! 

I couldn't believe it because in the other stores they would of easily been around £6-7, so I made a massive saving. 

I loved the silver glittery ones on the right and these would be perfect for a night out or thinking waaaayyyy into the future, Christmas or New Years. 

The pink ones are really lovely in real life and really subtle. I was trying to decide between this rose pink colour and a lavender, but the pink won! I hate wearing pink clothing but I love it on nails and lips. Strange. 

Both packs have adhesive tabs attached to the nails, so no glue is involved. This is great for people who have never worn false nails before or dislike what the glue does to their natural nail on removal. I personally, don't like the tabs as I find they don't stick down for very long so I end up sticking some nail glue on as well.

There is a false nail pack or nail polish out there for everyone. If you are on a budget or don't fancy a nail bar then I would highly recommend trying out Elegant Touch nails. As for nail polish, the MUA brand are totally not that bad for budget, it hardly breaks the bank and the overall finish is standard. 

Give them a go, you have nothing to lose! 

♥

  

What's In My Primark Handbag? My Daily Essentials.

I have seen a lot of these posts flying about on YouTube and seeing as I haven't got a new camera yet, I thought I would do a written version instead. 

I hope you don't mind? :) 

The above bag is from Primark and this was featured in my Primark haul which you can find here.

I love this bag, it looks a lot more expensive than it was (well I think it does anyway) and it doesn't really look like a Primark creation either. It literally goes with everything I wear. I have a teeny obsession with bags and purses. If I buy a new bag I have to find a purse that goes with it and visa versa. 

Today ladies you will see what I carry around on a daily basis and what I call my 'essentials'. It can get pretty heavy in there, let me tell you. 

So here we goooooooo!!! 

Oooohh!! Sneak peak of what's inside! 

Can you tell I just chuck it in?! Whoops. 

The most important thing in my bag is my purse for obvious reasons. It has everything in there. The whole of the contents in my bag is highly important but where would we be without our purses 'aye? 

I have had this purse sat on my dressing table for like a year now because I had used my last one to death. And I love this one even more so. It's so girly and sparkly and the patent effect really brings out the glitter. It was from Claire's Accessories at around £12-£14. 

I Love how my account number and sort code are showing. I didn't see that!! Ha, feel free to put some money in guys! JOKES. 

The layout of the inside. I rarely carry money on me because I spend it. 

This is my new little notebook & pen that I brought the other week as I go through my notebooks more than I brush my hair. I am constantly writing notes. I love it... Writing notes that is. This picture makes the notebook look more red than it is. It is actually a burgundy colour but Blogger seems to change the colours and exposure quite a bit on upload and I don't know why. Anyway this little book comes everywhere with me so I can write my blogging notes down on ideas for my next posts. 

Ha ha, yes what you see before your eyes is a bunch of snotty tissue!!! (Not really this lot hasn't been used... Yet) 

Due to having reeeeeeeaaaallly bad hay fever I have to carry A LOT of tissue around because I am constantly sneezing and my nose just pours out like Niagara Falls. It is so not attractive, and it really bugs me because I end up wiping half of my make up off. *sobs*

So this is definitely an essential for me to have in my bag, I just never know when I am going to be caught out.

Mother Nature is a pure bitch. Fact. 

  

To coincide with the tissue here are my 'meds', bloody hay fever meds and currently they are doing jack to help me. I used to really rate the tablets as they are like 180mg which are strong and I used to be on 10mg and they used to work. This year, not so much. And they have changed the steroid nasal spray too. The only thing that actually works is the eye drops for my hay fever eyes, but they god damn sting. Anywho, they are locked to my bag I will always need these in the summer. 

 Yup, next we have my sunnies and my car keys. I got a new car (a 10 plate, practically brand new black Corsa Energy) and then I got made redundant. Ha. That will serve me right for getting rid of Rusty (my old car, this one is called Brian after the lead singer of my FAVOURITE BAND EVER Placebo. If you haven't heard of them, go check them out. They are amazing). Nonetheless I love my shiny car and you will find both of these swimming amongst my crap in my handbag. 

Floating around are my 13' Christmas vouchers and some money from my nan, I haven't spent it yet. Well the voucher I did. I brought an awesome pineapple cup (which you can see on my Instagram account: anythingbutordinaryleya) from New Look but it was broken when I inspected it properly at home, and they didn't have another one in store. So it currently has like £6 on the card. 

I carry these around in case I need them. :) 

Here she is... My makeup bag. Again I have written a blog post about this and you can find that here.

I obviously carry this beaut around as I constantly need to touch up my makeup thanks to my hay fever face. I swap and change what I carry around day to day but this is another permanent to my handbag.

I love my Ipod and I love music. This is an essential! Excuse the dirty headphones, my makeup constantly transfers onto them. I have had this Ipod for like 10 years I swear, I had it free with a mobile phone contract I took out. You don't get that these days. But yeah, I need this for journeys, or for blocking people and the world out for a while.

I don't really need to explain these. 

My back-combing combs. The pink one from Primark £1 and the black one is a hairdressing one. Simple, must-haves in my bag.

Yup, I have carex, who doesn't in their handbag? You don't know what you're touching out there guys. Keep clean! I use this stuff to death because I handle my hamsters, then my guinea pig and then my dog. I use it after touching each one so not to spread germs. And before I eat obvz. Then Vaseline for dry lips and my roll on deodorant for those 'hot' times. I don't use sprays any more as my animals inhale it. 

I always carry a mirror. I am not amazingly vain but I do have to check everything is tip top with my face. My mum and dad brought me this from H M Samuel a few Christmases ago and I use this one on special occasions. As I am clumsy and will probably break it. It's super pretty.  

 This is pure jokes. It's a fluffy monster phone protector!!! I love this! When I worked at Claire's Accessories I wanted this so much as it was cute. So my brother got it me as one of my gifts for Christmas last year!!! He has to go in now and then.

And that's it guys. The tour is over. My handbag is completely empty.

If you enjoyed scrolling through this post leave me a cheeky comment or give me a subscribe. I am pretty scarce on both of those. 

What do you carry in your handbag? 

♥

My "Holy Grail" Eyeshadow Palette // The Ultimate Box of Tricks for Your Eyes!

Helloooooo!!

I have decided to do a not so long (written) blog post like I usually do today, just to mix it up a little. I don't want to become too predictable now do I?! ;) 

I touched upon this product in my previous post which you can link to HERE. 
And I spoke about this product favourably in the 'eye' section, and how I am currently using it to create my smoky eye look. It is my holy grail of shadows at the mo.

It is a product made by the 'Front Cover' Brand and it is an awesome box full of super cool tools to make your eyes stand out beautifully. The box of tricks is called 'A Billion Stars' and after doing some research I cannot find this box anywhere on their website (www.frontcovercosmetics.com) as when you click the 'shop' button it comes up with an error message. 
Odd...
But you can pick it up on places like Ebay until the site is back up and running again. I did purchase mine a few years back now and it is still my favourite eyeshadow palette to use to date. 

This is what you get. 

As you can see there is no palette in there. 
Well, that's because I am using it and it's in my hand bag as I type. AND the palette has a mirror inside. Score! 

The box contains.

. 4 shot silk effect eyeshadows.
. 4 domed twinkle baked powder eyeshadows.
4 satin pressed eyeshadows.
. 4 domed baked powder eyeshadows.
. Pot of silver stars. (Which I LOVE)
. Holographic glitter.
. 2 Iridescent pigments.
. Shadow base.
.Shadowline.
. Eye effects glue.
.Double ended eye applicator. 
. Front Cover to go compact. 

Some of the shadows are missing from the box, but here they are in my compact. 

I have been using these pots the most to create my smoky eye effect. I will do a tutorial soon on this look. Let me know what you think? 

I love the little pot of stars and the glitters too! 

It also comes with a makeup artists tips and  step by step photographic instructions to "let you achieve studio finish make-up". This is such a good idea, especially for beginners who are just starting out and experimenting with eye makeup. 
Well played... Well played.  

If you love makeup in general or you are wanting to experiment with different styles on your eyes and want a good quality product, then check this out. I love it and I think you would too. 

♥