Thanks Santa!!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and new year, now that the fun part is over it's time for putting away the decorations and finding space for all your lovely goodies!

I was quite lucky this year and below is my 'stash' minus the chocolates, they are long gone! 

This is my goodies from my partner.

Owl slipper boots, they are cute and have a pink fluffy inside.  I also got some angora wool blend socks, they are from primark.  They again have a cute owl pattern but I won't use them as I am not comfortable with angora and the way it's obtained.

Some royal jelly bubble bath, I must admit, my initial reaction was that I'm not 70 and this is for old ladies but it's ok, it doesn't have a particularly strong scent and it creates decent enough bubbles. One major plus for living in the north east of Scotland is that we have soft water which means we get a good lather going on.  When I was at my partners mums in Kent, I thought I had forgotten how to wash my hair, there was nothing!! The book is a recipe book full of chocolatey goodness, not ideal for the New Year diet!

The Opi (I picked up this one in Sally's and told him it was from him!) is 'Black Cherry Chutney', it is a very dark, vampy colour but it has a shimmer in it that just catches the light beautifully.

This is my favourite and this was the result of an email being sent to him telling him 'I want this one please!'.  The parfum is Botannical Essence No15 by Liz Earle and I love it.  I spritzed this many moons ago in John Lewis and have longed for it ever since! At the time of the email, there was a special offer on if you bought a botanical essence, you got the nail polish and lip gloss free, absolute bonus! It also came with a mini cleanse and polish.

The rest I got from my mum and step-dad, brother and my auntie, bless their socks, we weren't supposed to be doing gifts this year (although I did get my mum and step-dad a wee pressie each).  My partner and I were cooking dinner for everyone though, I think there ended being twelve of us! 

So alongside the super cosy dressing gown, with a hood, the obligatory socks and pitch perfect dvd (it has a uv code too so it has now found a place in my ipad!). I got Lady Millions perfume, totally unexpected, I have had a quick sniff and it seems lovely but nothing can drag me away from the Liz Earle at the moment.

This opi was part of a set I bought at TK Maxx and said to my mum to get my brother to give it to me but she ended up giving it to me - monkey! It's called 'Current Crush' and it is a lovely purple with silver sparkles through it, it is a liquid sand and is one of several new liquid sands I have added to my collection recently! Oopsy! 

A nice bracelet to add to my collection, apparently it is pearl and supposed to promote calmness and relaxation - not sure if mum is trying to tell me something?!? One of my aims this year is to accessorise more and so this is perfect!  

It's not christmas anymore without a soap and glory gift set! I love soap and glory products so this is most welcome and will most definitely get used!

And last up was this Glade 'Winter Berries' candle.  It's a lovely little candle and initially I thought the scent would carry well but once lit, I couldn't really smell it unless I was at a certain distance and angle.

Just wait til you see what I bought myself for Christmas though, I have probably made it on to the 'naughty list' for next Christmas already!

Did you have a good Christmas and new year?

Was 'Santa' good to you?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Happy New Year!

Oh hai there 2014! 

That sneaked right up in there eh?! 

Quick post to wish you all health, wealth and happiness in 2014 and a wee pic of my NYE nails, I'll post a full tutorial very soon!

Love and hugs,

Jodi 

xxx

Weekend (ish) Mani #18 and a How To!

Merry Day After Boxing Day!

Have you had a look at the boxing day sales yet? I've ordered a few bits and bobs and so will post about them very soon!

My Christmas Day Mani was a bit of a quickie one, we were doing the cooking and prep etc for 11 or so people and so it was very, very busy!

I have made this into a wee tutorial type post too, since it's Christmas and all that jazz!

I have a multitude of different pictures too as my iPhone storage is kinda full and I still haven't figured out how to work my coolpix that I got for my birthday in July!

This mani was pretty simple, I was rather rushed and this was the only thing I could think of that didn't require too much effort (or thought!) on Christmas Day.

Here's the tools I went for: a selection of polishes, a topcoat, thread, scissors, dotting tool and a plastic tray thing for splodging my polish into.

After I applied my basecoat, I applied two coats of OPI 'I vant to be a-lone star, I love this for this particular mani as it is a frosty pale blue with a silver shimmer.  Some of my nails needed a third coat as there were some patchy bits.

Before adding the second coat, I cut the thread to size in preparation for the next step.

After adding the second (and third) coats of polish, I applied the thread to my nails before the polish was dry.  you can apply it in anyway you want, I quite like the loop on my pointer finger!

Use tweezers or the scissors to gently push the thread into the polish so that it adheres to the nail. 

I then applied a coat of topcoat just to seal it all in.

One thing I did forget which would have been really handy for while doing my dots would have been a cotton pad with nail polish remover on it to wipe my dotting tool on after each colour.

I then splodged my polish into the plastic tray, I started with yellow and did all the yellow dots on every finger before moving onto all the blue dots, then all the red dots and then all the green. 

The yellow I used was the Barry M Limited Edition Yellow I posted about here.

The blue I used was Nails Inc. 'Baker Street' quite possibly the bestest blue colour in the world ever!! I posted about it here too.

The red I used was the Mavala Rouge Rubis one I used last week, here, is a lovely little red.  I can't believe I have owned this for a whole year before using this, it really is a lovely, sparkly red and perfect for Christmas!

The green was a cheeky little poundland purchase but I really like the metallic effect.  It is a Sally Hansen Ultra HD in shade 'Resolution'. I have only ever worn this on my toes and although the colour is pretty lovely, the formula is quite thin and needs quite a few coats for opacity. 

I waited (not so) patiently for the polish to dry, trimmed the thread and then topcoated again just to keep it looking nice and shiny throughout christmas dinner!

This design could have so many variations, you could do a darker base or a glittery base, switch up the colour of the thread and silver and gold dots would make awesome fairy lights! 

Let me know if you give these a try, these would work well for New Years Nails too!

Hugs,

Jodi

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very, merry Christmas with family, friends and fun!

I hope you're all snug and warm tonight too! 

Normal service shall be back soon, looking forward to a few extra days off work to take pics in daylight! 

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

What's on my face...

This weekend, my work chums and I went for our Christmas 'do'.  For a change it was a lunchtime thing and I was home and in bed by 10.30pm! Not bad eh?! 

Here is what I wore on my face...

It does look like quite a lot when its all laid out! I'll take you through it layer by layer...

The Base...

*Smashbox Photo finish Oil free Primer * Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in the shade 51 * Max Factor Lasting Performance in shade 100 Fair * Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in shade Ivory *Benefit Hello Flawless Custom Cover-Up Face Powder in shade Ivory *

The Contour...

*Natural Collection Blushed Cheeks in shade Dusky Pink * Bourjois Delice de Poudre in shade 51 * theBalm Cosmetics Mary-Lou Manizer *

The Colour...

* Mua Undressed palette, I used the top right gold shade and the bottom left (I think) in my crease * Superdrug Kolor Black Eyeliner (reaaallly old!) * Benetint Lip Balm * E.l.f. Eye Brow Taming Gel * Natural Collection Lip Pencil in shade Mulberry * 

There are a few items missing in the above picture because I lost them while I was out...nothing at all to do with the vodka, I'm sure... I was wearing Maybelline 'The Rocket' mascara, as seen here, and Kate Moss for Rimmel Matte Lipstick in shade 111 Kiss of life, seen here. I also lost the brush for my Benefit powder, a comb and my wee tin of Elnett - Good job, yes?!

The Scent...

I also took with me, my 10ml YSL Manifesto spray eau de toilette.  I have decide that these dinky but not too dinky perfumes are one of my favourite things! This was part of a gift set I got last Christmas which contained the 50ml bottle of Manifesto and also this handbag sized version.

Have you got any Christmas Nights out to look forward too?

Do you play up lips or eyes or both?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

So...about that 'no buy'...

I failed my self imposed 'no buy'.  Several times.  I went to TK Maxx and I failed.  I went to Boots and I failed.  I went to Semi-Chem, yup, I failed and then I had the audacity to buy a few bits on feelunique.com.  Ach well, as they say, you can't take it with you. 

TK Maxx had these two opi's including a limited edition liquid sand for £12.99.  I saved £12.99 on my winter boots from sports direct though so that balances out... Right? I'm going to give this to my mum to give to my brother to give me for Christmas.  Guilt appeased! 

In Boots, I bought a Max Factor foundation.  I have heard these are quite good for folk with pink skintones so I'm going to give it a whirl, the shade is the lightest one, 100 fair, so hopefully that will do the trick.  I haven't linked it as that particular shade isn't on the Boots.com website.  Also, because you were getting a free gift if you spent over £15, I also bought the wild shadow 2-in-1 gel shadow and liner pencil in the shade 05 which seems to be a nice bronzey brown and called 'Caramel Rage on Boots.com.  The free gift includes a full size lipfinity, a full size polish and a full size mascara which I shall review at a later date.

Now to Semi-Chem, I only went in for ibuprofen on the way over to my chums and came out with ibuprofen, oven cleaner (?!?!?) and a new nail polish, as you do. I got my first NYC polish for less than £2. That has been my mid week mani.

And Feelunique brought me the renowned Dr Bronner's magic soap in peppermint and Caudalie's beauty elixir in a limited edition L'Wren Scott designed bottle.  I had a £5 credit to use for referring a friend to Feelunique and it would have been rude not to use it! 

And I still haven't done my Christmas shopping! Yikes! 

Have you ever tried a 'no buy'?

How's your Chrsitmas shopping going?

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

P...p...paint on a Penguin!!

Okay, totally lame title but hey, it's Monday!

Here's a quick guide to how I did my penguin nail at the weekend...

I used a Catherine Arley Black Holo, I had never used it before and thought the holo would be quite fun but in actuality (is that a word?!) it wasn't very holo! Its a good enough polish but not very easy to get hold of and personally, I wouldn't bother.  Sidenote: If you are really keen on a holographic polish then could I recommend you check out iconic effect as they have a superb holo topcoat and you can pick the intensity, all the swatches I have seen look amazing and it means you can holo all your fav colours you already own! Squeeeee!!

Back to the nails, once you have painted your base colour, which doesn't have to be black btw, if you want a pastel pink penguin, you go ahead and paint that pastel base right on!  Get yourself a dotting tool or kirby grip and dab it in the colour you have chosen for your eyes and tummy.  I'm using the plastic top off of a Whiskas Dentabits container to splodge my polish into, pringles lids are also excellent.  I have a bundle monster set which contains quite a few tools but I only really use the dotters.  You can pick up dotting tools on Amazon and eBay really cheaply and Bourjois also do one although I am not quite so sure how widely available that is.  For my little guy's bits, I'm using the old faithful, Barry M Matte White. 

Do two relatively big eye splodges, you can be as symmetrical or asymmetrical as you like here, asymmetry just adds character...right...I find it is best to put fresh polish on the dotter for every dot or dab.

Draw on your little dudes tummy, again, it's upto you if you want a fatty penguin or not.  I did a kinda fatty one purely because that is the best of my artistic abilities.

Next, get your black and splodge a bit on your polish receptacle i.e. plastic lid and, using the smaller end of the dotter or kirby, apply a dot into the centre of your white eye 'splodges'.

I have yet to get this bit symmetrical and it always reminds me of those googly eyes you used to get on cards as a kid! Like I say, character!! 

Next up, we need to give this badboy some features.  I used an orange Revlon polish called 'Siren' for the first time, seemed pretty good although it was a bit runnier than the other two.  If you had your heart set on penguins of this colour scheme, best thing to do would be to go to Boots or Superdrug and take advantage of the 3 for 2 offers running on the likes of Barry M and Sinful Colours. 

I digress... Using the bigger end of the dotting tool, I used one dot of the Revlon Polish for each 'foot' or is it flipper? and then used the smaller end to dot a wee (kinda) triangle for his beak.

ét Voila!! 

It's now upto you if you want to get really arty and draw on scarves and what not, just bear in mind that you will need to also paint the same on your dominant hand with your non-dominant hand. 

Make sure you let each coat dry a little and DO NOT put topcoat over until it is completely dry as it will inevitably smudge your little guys eyes and the orange from his beak will be on his tummy and you will be sad!!! 

Hope you give this a go!

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx