Sunday Nails - New Year New Nail Polish

There are 2 full days left of 2013, how crazy is that? We're approaching 2014 at great speed and I don't think I'm ready for a whole new year. If there's one thing I've learnt this year it's that growing up is scary, especially when you don't know what you want to do with your life and you have to start making big decisions about your future. There's also the fear of not knowing what will happen but I'm not going to let that hold me back; 2014 will be my best year yet. 

That being said I'm not doing anything special anything at all to welcome in the New Year hence the lack of outgoing and eye catching nail art, that and I wanted to use the Essie nail varnishes that my sister bought me for Christmas. She bought me the an Essie mini winter 2013 collection set containing the colours 'Shearling Darling', 'Parka Perfect' and 'Toggle To The Top', so I decided to use 'Shearling Darling' and then 'Toggle To The Top' to create the glitter gradient effect.  

If you are going out this nail art may still be a good option for you as if you are going all out in the sparkle department in other areas such as your clothes or makeup you may not want disco balls and fireworks on your nails; it may come across a bit O.T.T, so this subtle sparkle may be a perfect solution 

What are you doing this New Years Eve?

Eleanor xx

The Christmas Tag!

Merry Christmas! I hope you are all having a wonderful day whatever you are doing whether that be celebrating Christmas or not. I thought I'd schedule a post for those of you wanting a break from arguing over what to watch on TV with your family or are fed up of loosing monopoly to your great grandma Ethel! If your reading this on Boxing Day then I hope you had a lovely day yesterday and I'd love to know what you got in the comments! 

Anyway on the post, which is the Christmas tag! I've seen lots of bloggers do this tag and I thought it looked fun so I decided to share it with you!

What time of the year do you start your Christmas shopping?

I normally start thinking of what to buy people for Christmas in late summer but I only really start my Christmas shopping near the end of November and I'll only finish a few days before Christmas. I don't think I could ever be one of those people who gets everything on Christmas Eve as I spend a lot of time finding the perfect presents!

Do you have any festive recipes for food or drink you limit solely to the Christmas season to share?

Roast potatoes done in goose fat, if I could on Christmas Day I'd just have a plate full of roast potatoes because they just taste that good! My mother restricts them the goose fat to Christmas as they are quite unhealthy but I cannot begin to describe the crispy outside and fluffy interior mmmmmmmm.

Tell me how Christmas goes home in your home...

We wake up around 8.30 ish and me and my sister open our 'stockings' (it's really just a pillow case haha) in our pyjamas before we all get dressed and go downstairs. In between cooking the Christmas dinner we all open the presents from under the tree before eating our Christmas dinner at about 1 o'clock. After lunch my mum tries to persuade us to go for a walk but by then my dad's fallen asleep on the sofa. We then spend the rest of the day stuffing our face full of chocolates while watching Christmas TV.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

Not as far as I know...

Do you have a favourite festive coffee?

I don't drink coffee but I'll never pass on a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows (mini marshmallows are so much cuter than big ones)!

Do you have a favourite Christmas song?

'Last Christmas' by Wham will always be my favourite Christmas song but I also love 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey.

What do you do on Christmas eve?

Apart from going to Church in the evening we don't really do anything special apart from preparing the vegetables for Christmas Dinner.

What's your Christmas wrapping strategy? Do you have one?

I never knew people had Christmas wrapping strategies?! I just try to be as neat as possible and finish everything off with gold ribbon. All the wrapping paper has to fit with the decoration theme though!

What's your dream gift this year?

Apart from world peace, an end to world hunger and all my family and friends to be happy and healthy, I'd love a Chanel bag or maybe some Louboutins. A girl can dream.

Describe your Christmas tree. How tall? Real or artificial? How is it decorated?

Sadly artificial as my parents are too stingy to fork out for a real tree each year, it's moderately sized at about 6ft and decorated with a red and gold colour scheme in mind but with a few mismatched personal decorations thrown in for good measure.

Do you decorate just the Christmas tree or other areas of your house e.g. windows, banisters?

Mainly just the tree but we like to put some holly and tinsel around the house like on the mantelpiece.

What do you wear to Christmas parties and what do you wear on Christmas day?

I don't really go to Christmas parties but we all dress nicely on Christmas Day, not forgetting the paper hats out of the Christmas crackers that is the Christmas uniform of many families all over the world.

I hope you enjoyed this post and if you've done this tag leave it in the comments as I'd love to read it! I'd also just like to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting my blog as in the new year my blog will be a year old. I wouldn't be here without you.

Thank You and Merry Christmas 

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Sweet Sugar Candy Cane

3 SLEEPS TILL CHRISTMAS!!! 

As you may tell I'm a little excited for Christmas, so excited that I forgot to put up a midweek blog post *slaps wrist for being a bad blogger*. It's no excuse but I've been busy and I'd hate to put up a rubbish half hearted blog post, but my New Years resolution will be to do more blog posts (including outfit posts)!

In the mean time lets enjoy the Christmas cheer by me showing you this weeks nail art. 

As I mentioned last week Christmas is a great excuse to stuff your face with lots of food, including CANDY CANES! So to create the look of candy canes I used the most Christmassy nail varnish I own: Barry M nail paint in Red Glitter, and then created diagonal stripes using my models own nail art pen.

Every time I think of candy canes I just think of buddy the elf travelling through the seven levels of the candy canes forest!

 Merry Christmas! 

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Christmas Pudding

Who would've thought that Christmas would come around so quickly? 10 more sleeps till the big day and only 5 until I finish Sixth Form for my well deserved break. So that means there's only one more Christmas nail art after this one which quite frankly makes me sad. I'm not ashamed to say that each week I enjoy spreading Christmas cheer through a picture or pattern on my nails. 

So continuing with the Christmas theme I thought I'd do a simple nail art inspired by one of the best things about Christmas: the food. Ahh turkey, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes in goose fat, just the thought of it all makes my mouth water. Surprisingly I don't like Christmas pudding (#sorrynotsorry) it's just never been my choice of pudding but frankly they look so darn cute on your nails it was hard to resist!

Please tell me I'm being a pig when I say that Christmas diner is one of the best parts of Christmas Day? 

Eleanor xx

Christmas Wishlist/ Gift Guide

It's two weeks today till Christmas so I hope you've all written your Christmas lists and sent them to Father Christmas! If not or your in despair about what to buy your gal pals for Christmas then you may find this post as some much needed inspiration! 

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - £37

Yes the worlds most hyped up neutrals palette has returned for a third time in the form of the Naked 3 palette. The Naked 3 palette, unlike 1 and 2, is very pink based hense the beautiful rose gold packaging. I don't own the first two palettes, I'm planning to buy them when I go to New York, but I can't wait until February for this palette as all year I've been looking for the perfect pink toned eyeshadows. The palette is being released on the 16th of Decemeber so just in time for Christmas but if you want one you may have to preorder one from Look Fantastic as I have a feeling they're going to sell out very quickly!

Baz Luhrmann Epic Romances Box Set - £8.50
Personally I think that DVD's are a stocking essential and a box set is always a great gift for a film and TV lover like myself. This year I've asked for the Epic Romances box set (that includes Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge and Australia) and also another box set that includes Clueless and Mean Girls. These are some of my all time favourite films but for some reason I don't own them on DVD, but if I get them for Christmas I know what I'll be watching during my break for Sixth Form!

River Island Black Pleat Front Halter Neck Top - £28 and Black Draped Tulip Mini Skirt - £25
Oh my gosh I am so in love with this black crop top and skirt combo from River Island! I love the shape and cut of both the skirt and the top, and they can be styled separately or together. Co-ordinaries are a great idea if you've got lots of parties over the holiday season as you can mix and match without having to buy 3 different outfits! Topshop Mini Nail Polish - £5

HOW CUTE IS THIS MINI NAIL VARNISH?! Seriously this thing is amazing as it's even a Christmas tree decoration! Imagine coming downstairs on Christmas morning and seeing this cutie hanging on the tree? Or if that's not your thing it would be a great idea as a secret Santa present because they come in loads of different sparkly colours to suit any nail polish lover.

ASOS iPad Case - £15

Okay so I don't have an iPad but if I did I'd totally buy this case if I did! It doesn't provide a lot of protection but if your just looking for a simple clip on case then ASOS have loads of cases in different patterns. If you don't have an iPad like myself then they also do iPhone cases and things all at reason prices and a great stocking filler.

I mean of course there are other things that I would like for Christmas such as Leonardo DiCaprio or some other gorgeous guy wrapped up in a big gold bow, but sadly we all know that's never going to happen! So in the meantime I'm just thankful for what I've already got such as loving and caring family, friends and readers such as yourself. Thank you.

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Somewhere Only We Know

Now there's nothing like Christmas adverts to get into the festive spirit. For the majority of the year we despise adverts and thank the lord that bbc do not have adverts, but in recent years I've been getting excited about Christmas adverts and impatiently waiting to see the during the ad breaks of my favourite shows. 

This year was no disappointment as we had offerings from Coca Cola, KFC, Aldi, M and S and best of all John Lewis. John Lewis have gone all out in the Christmas advert stakes this year with the story of the hare and the bear, a story in which the hate gives the bear an alarm clock so that he can wake up for Christmas and they can spend the day together. That paired with Lily Allen's rendition of Kean's 'Somewhere Only We Know' provides the most magical advert that embodies the Christmas spirit of sharing and spending time with your loves ones! So obviously I had to have a go at some nail art inspired by the advert!

By the way guys, I haven't been sponsored by John Lewis (I totally should have been haha) I'm just in love with their advert! What's been your favourite Christmas advert this year?

Eleanor xx

Superdrug Haul

When my friend Louise, who works at Superdrug, offered to give me a voucher for 30% off Superdrug own brand and 20% off other brands, that she'd been given at work I jumped at the chance! I mean what better excuse to buy makeup than discount? So I thought I'd share with you the things that I bought with the discount as it's rare that I buy lots of makeup in one go.

I've been looking for some good quality lip liners at a reasonable price for a while, so I picked up these Eau La La Liners from Sleek in the shades Raisin and Moulin Rouge. I love Sleek makeup: they are one of my favourite drugstore brands, and these lip liners definitely meet my expectations. The Eau La La Liners are multipurpose liners and are very soft and creamy, making application smooth. Moulin Rouge is as the name suggests a vibrant, classic red and Raisin is a lovely plum/berry shade that is perfect for winter.  

Sleek Eau La La Liners in Moulin Rouge and Raisin £4.99 (£3.49)

While browsing at the Sleek counter how could I pass on the opportunity to buy one of their raved about blushers? Like all of Sleeks products their blushers are highly pigmented and as good, if not better than a lot of high end blushers that I've tried. Pixie is a bright baby pink in a matte finish, I love this colour and I really feel like it suits my cool skin tone as it has a blue undertone. 

Sleek Blush in Pixie £4.49 (£3.14)

This product, like a few of the products in this haul, is a re-purchase. I love this mascara and it's very reasonable compared to a lot of drugstore mascaras which are verging on the £10 mark if not more. I've actually done a review of the Max Factor 2000 Calorie here.

Max Factor 2000 Calorie Waterproof Mascara £6.99 (£5.59)

I don't actually need more of Barry M Basecoat, Topcoat and Nail Hardener but it's my favourite basecoat and topcoat meaning that it runs out very quickly as I use it every time I paint my nails, which is very often. So I thought that while I have the opportunity to get it discounted I thought I might as well buy some more!

Barry M Basecoat, Topcoat and Nail Hardener £2.99 (£2.39)

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you about how much I love this concealer as practically everyone in the beauty blogging community has tried it and raved about how much they love it. This is maybe my third tube of it as it does run out quite quickly because the rubbish packaging makes it impossible to get all of the product out, but for under a fiver it hardly breaks the bank.

Collection Lasting Perfection Ultimate Wear Concealer £4.19 (£3.35)

It's times like these when it pays to have friends who work in shops that sell amazing makeup. It's just annoying because I missed out on the 3 for 2 offer by a day but overall I saved £7.19 which I'm very pleased with! Also I hope you don't mind but I've been taking some of the photo's on my I phone, it's just easier to edit and they focus better. But hopefully when I eventually get a job I'll be able to afford a decent camera!

Hope your having a good week

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Far Far Fair Isle Away

Hello December 2013 and all of the joy that you bring along with it! Finally we can put up our Christmas decorations, play Christmas music and stuff our faces with vast amounts of chocolate without feeling guilty in slightest. So to get us into the Christmas spirit I decided to do nail art inspired by a pattern that would be fit for any beautiful Christmas jumper: fair isle.

I love this nail varnish, I feel like it's the perfect Christmas red. Plus you'd never guess that it was free with some Colgate tooth paste! To make it even better it's Nails Inc! Pretty amazing freebie if I do say so myself. As you have probably already guessed to do the nail art I used my favourite white nail art pen from Models Own. I was going to attempt to do a Christmas tree but my hand started shaking so I thought I'd going for something a bit simpler!

As this nail art is inspired by Christmas jumpers please can you guys tell me about Christmas jumper etiquette? Like when is it okay to wear one? Or where is the best place to get one from? Or do you go ultra ugly a la Briget Jones style or simple and understated? I have never owned a Christmas jumper and therefore need your help before I delve into this unknown world.

Eleanor xx