NOTD: Essie Ballet Slippers and Beyond Cosy Accent Nail

While I put the finishing touches to my final assignment, this the lastest nails I am wearing.

I wanted to wear something that was feminine and delicate after wearing cherry red nail varnish (OPI's Wocka Wocka for The Muppets Collection) for a week. I also had Beyond Cosy from Christmas that I hadn't worn yet. I am now deeply in love with the twinkling delight that is Beyond Cosy, next to the delicated sheer pink of Ballet Slippers it's beautiful.

In the next few days my assignment will be sent off for assessment and hopefully with the next week I shall get a email to tell me the result of my BTEC.

This is when normal services will resume and my husband get his wife back rather than a make up obsessed fiend or so he likes to think .......

Unevenlemming Beauty is 1 year Old

Mmmmm Cake

 

Things have moved a huge amount from one year ago when I decided to take the plunge and join the expanding world of Beauty Bloggers.

 

At the time of writting this there is more followers than I ever hoped for reading my ramblings, when i started this it was merely something to keep me sane while I was recovering from knee injury. The inital idea was it was to compliment the business I had started, which has long gone while the blog has gone strength to strength.

 

I appreciate all you guys who read, comment, and tweet this - without you guys I don't this would of lasted longer than a few months.

 

To all the #bbloggers as well thank you for all your support, kind words and recommendations - I am now well and truly broke now.

 

To the bloggers who inspired me to start - You guys are not only a huge inspiration but I thank you for being a support to me and your kind words over the past few months. To get them from people I'd admire means more than what I can put into words.

 

I want to add a thank you for the suppliers who kindly let me try some of their products, its a huge privilage that I am grateful for.

 

To all my friends and family, thank you for being the first set of readers and champions of what I do and doing in the future.

 

And finally to my long suffering husband, who now has a front room that looks like Boots. I am grateful that you put up with my ramblings of why this red vanish is different from another red varnish and why I need both.

 

Just Thank You To Everyone

Update on my BTEC in Make-Up Artistry

I have spoken in the past that I am currently studying for my BTEC in Make-Up Artistry, after 3 assignments I am now working hard on the final assignment. This contains 5 designs briefs - Party, Wedding, Fashion, Photographic and Fantasy. I have spent the previous weekend doing two of the briefs and am currently filling in treatment plans, designs and evaluations, as well as editing photos and writing reports for them. I am still loving the course and cannot wait until I qualify, however time is limited as for the next few weeks I need to get everything finished and handed in for the end January. 
I am really excited about the Fantasy element that is themed around musicals - I've chosen Phantom of The Opera because it is my favourite, I've seen it in the West End, got the Film version and really want the Live DVD version. I'm thinking of doing a half face piece, one side the phantom, the other half Christine. My front room is currently covered in photos, make-up and drawings. As it is my final piece I want to put as much as I've learnt into it, as well as making it a show stopper!
This does mean that updates on here will for the next few weeks be fewer than normal, wth the Masterclasses returning next month as these take the most time to research and put together. It also interesting as I learn that I really want to share it you guys, I'm still finding more and more things that I want to write and share about.
The blog also hit 10,000 page views a few days ago, I am still humbled that people read this, I won't say too much now - that'll come on my one year anniversary on 25th.  For now, keep safe everyone and I'll see you on the other side.

Say 'Hello' to Nature's Healthbox

Part of being of holistic therapist that specialises in Aromatherapy, you do get frustrated with companies that use the term very loosely and have products that really don't hold the values of aromatherapy truly (That is a rant for another blog entry!).

I approached Nature's Healthbox when they asked people to help review items from their shop, after reading their email I was more than eager to help a like minded company. It was started by three colleagues who worked in the pharmacy industry, but all have a passion and experience in using products that are as stripped back to their natural roots as possible.

They road test as many products as possible (as well as roping in friends and family), as well as research that each of their range is eco-friendly and organic (each product has the percentage of organic materials in the descriptions) but does the job.

Saying I had more of an interest in Beauty, I was sent Weleda's Pomegranate Creamy Body Wash 200ml (£8.99) and Weleda's Pomegranate Regenerating Body Oil 100ml (£19.89). The cream wash is thick and moisturising as it has sunflower and sesame seed oil in. The body oil is a blended (Jojoba, sesame, wheatgerm and sunflower) oil that is moisturising without being heavy on the skin, it actually has opposite effect and my skin seems to drink it.

An extra positive is that the oil comes in a a dark bottle with a dropper dispenser, the dark bottle ensurers that oils are kept in the best condition and protected from deterioration. The droppers means that when you pour the oil out it controls the amount does not flow too quickly.

 

From the delivery time of a few days to the friendly and helpful staff, I have been really impressed. You can also give them a tweet to say hello, they like that too!

 

After browsing, for maybe a bit too long, on the newly launched Nature's Healthbox website. The following wish list has emerged;

 

 

1. Burt's Bees Almond & Milk Hand Cream £8.99

2. Avalon Organics Shine Ylang Ylang Shampoo and conditioner £5.99 each

3. Badger Balm Stress Soother £6.09

4. Weleda Lavender Creamy Body wash 200ml £7.89

5. Green People Eco Lipstick Cherry 4.5g £10.99

6. Teapigs Chocolate Flake Tea 15 Temples £3.99 - Chocolate tea!

 

From Monday 14th to the end January use the code BLOGTASTIC2013 at the checkout and get 10% of any purchases and can be used in conjunction with these offers:

25% off Salcura (amazing treatments for eczema, psoriasis, dry and irritable skin)
15% off A.Vogel (a vast range of remedies and tinctures extracted from plants- I cannot recommend the echinacea products highly enough)
20% off Amy's Kitchen (Seriously delicious soups with no nasties)

 

Natures Healthbox launches today www.natureshealthbox.co.uk and I wish them all the best in their new adventure. I'll be putting my next order in soon.

Essie Collection: 0 - 7 in 3 months (With more to come in SS13)

Top L-R: Leading Lady, Ballet Slippers, Sugar Daddy, Beyond Cosy
Bottom L-R: Merino Cool, Mint Candy Apple, Tart Deco

 

Mid November I lost my Essie Virginity after winning a blogger giveaway to win a set of three of Nikki Etc, favourite Essie polishes. Since Merino Cool hit my nails I haven't looked back.

 

I am and will always be an OPI girl, they were the brand I first converted even before I started to train as a manicurist. I have, however, been seduced by Essie with it's slightly higher coverage varnish, easy to use brush and one of the longest wear times I have had.

 

The range of colours every season has been bang on trend and highly desirable. In the case of the Christmas collection there was a mixture of Christmassy colours for the purists and brights for the rebels.

 

Leading Lady (above) is now my favourite red ever, it's a jelly with red glitter infused. To me it doesn't traditional glitter, it glows. I had this on for Christmas and didn't take it off until New Years Eve which is nearly 7 days of wear and I only had the smallest chip on the corner of my thumb.

 

My husband also brought me Beyond Cosy which is a gold glitter, this one sparkles. I do like that's it's not a brassy gold and it is not a intense good, there seems a bit of silver to tone it down. I've found this makes a great accent nail polish.

And now onto my two new ones, an impulse purchase from Fragrance Direct for the grand price of £1.99 each. The one above is Ballet Slippers, an almost white cream, that's soft and feminine. The other is Sugar Daddy which is suppose to be sheer pink nude. I think this will be perfect for the times I more a groomed look.

Onto Spring/Summer 2013 - Delicate pinks, lilacs, blues and greys. I've seen no swatches so far, but I will be keeping an eye out for the whole of that bottom row. With the trend heading towards to pastels again, I think I'll also be able to reuse my Mint Candy Apple (as it matches some of my light jumpers).

Note: Don't worry OPI - I got The Bondette set for Christmas, our love affair is not over yet

#Bloglove

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone."
Burt Bacharach

Image from Jaynes Kitschen

I keep in touch with a lot of other beauty bloggers through twitter and would like to think I do contribute towards on the hash-tag twitter chat called #bbloggers (Wednesday and Sunday nights at 8pm - For more information #Bbloggerschat Blog).

From one of the chats it came through that one of the things that other bloggers wanting to do for 2013 is  to promote other bloggers. I think this was a great idea and while chatting about it another blogger, Jayne from Jayne's Kitschen jumped in and said that she started a hash-tag with the same idea. Read her original idea here

For me the beauty bloggers community is just that - A community of like minded people who share ideas, problems and the love of what we do. I am fully behind something that brings people together because together we can knock any problems and negativity. It also not a place for competition on who has more followers than others, we write because we chose to and if people read it - even better!

I have met some of nicest people with a varied mixture of experience and they've all been ready to help (this even included the people who inspired me to start this blog in the first place). No one has ever turned me away for being a "small" blog, they've noticed I'm like them and have spent a good hour talking to them.

To spread some #Bloglove:

• Comment on their entry - Tell them you liked it! I still get excited by comments, for me it shows that what I'm writing is being actually read and not glanced over.
• Play it forward - This is where the hash-tag comes in, tweet about it (or Share on Facebook depending on your social media preference) and share it with other people.
• Think before you speak - Is what about to send to the wide world really a reflection on who you are? Is it promoting #Bloglove? There are ways of providing feedback without being judgmental  a friendly mail is better than broadcasting it to Twitter.
• Engage with other bloggers - Tweet, Email, Facebook, Instagram: we now live in a world where we can connect with more people easier. Like what some says? Tell them, like, share, re-tweet, favourite. 

Share the #Bloglove.

"Your talent makes you who you are. You should be proud of it." –Tinker Bell

Ah 2013 - I've Been Expecting You

Happy New Year everyone, for an inspection of Twitter you seemed of got a little merry last night. I spent my evening on the sofa with the husband avoiding the bits that made me feel queasy in the film Prometheus, as well as watching the fireworks in London on TV.

I have no New Year resolutions because I never seem to keep them with all the best intentions. I know what I need to do this year - finish my BTEC coursework before February, carrying on blogging and stop worrying so much about life itself.

Over the past year this blog was born, I've turned 30, lost a job, and gained a job. I've been poor and then poorer and have been on a spending ban for as long as I can remember. However, through the support of husband, family and friends, I haven't gone barking mad just yet.

2013 will hopefully bring a little more stability and balance with life and blogging - As I've said my BTEC is due to finish in over a months time as well my home moving into something smaller (I'm still working out how to move my make up kit over!).

For now I shall leave you from one of the pictures I've been editing today from my assignment and once again with you all a very happy and beauty filled new year.