NOTD: Fearne Cotton Burnt Out

Today another nail polish from my Christmas haul is gracing my blog; this one is from the Fearne Cotton Perfectly Polished collection and is called Burnt Out. I haven't had time to try this one before, again, so this is a first look at it for me as well as probably you. Here goes...

It's a nice orangey red colour which goes on well, if not a little transparently but it is nothing that a couple of coats won't fix. The gold glitter in it is pretty and it reminds me of the red and gold Max Factor Flipstick (Gipsy Red)...

As you can probably tell, I struggled to get a decent photo of this! In normal light (on the right) it just looked like an average, mildly glittery orange and then the flash (left picture) made it look much more red and you could see a little more of the gold. In real life it is a slightly pearlescent colour between orange and red with much more gold than either of these pictures would make you think!

Over all I like the colour of this, it's definitely not a colour that I'd have chosen myself but after two coats it looks rich and I can't complain about the amount of glitter. It was a little runny in consistency though, so it needed plenty of time to dry because I tend to paint quite thickly. The brush was also rather long so I got a little messy (says more about my terrible painting skills, really) but they look quite good now, I think.

I'm wearing this to a house party later with plenty of possibilities for chipping so hopefully the colour will hold up!

SHOW OFF: Bird Dresses

Skater Dress in Duck Print Now £15

Skater Dress with Ballet Wrap In Swan Print £25

I thought I'd show off these two dresses today as one is new and the other is a favourite - both are from ASOS and feature some feathered friends :)

The new dress (with the swans) has a lovely wrap style top which I love... I have been trying to get my hands on a dress with a top like this for so long but all I have liked sell out in my size before I get a chance to buy them :( I can't wait to wear this casually around uni or perhaps for cocktails with the girls.

 I'm a real fan of this print on this dress, it's also available in a blazer, shorts and a different dress but this is definitely my favourite of the bunch!

The duck dress (the last few are on sale here at the moment!) is an aging favourite which I love to wear with tights, boots and a jumper (namely black or burgundy!) on any day, I even wore this whilst building copious amounts of Lego on Christmas day!

I'm also lusting after a similar River Island skirt which I saw in store the other day... It seems I like ducks now. Every one likes ducks though, right?

Review: It's About Prime, Soap & Glory

It's About Prime, Soap & Glory in 'Bright Light' - £8 at Boots

I thought I'd just say a quick few words about the only Soap & Glory product I've ever tried (shock horror! I'm just not attracted to them...). I picked this up on NYE when I decided against buying new eye shadow to go with my outfit because I already had practically every colour. I thought the price of this was a bit hefty for the size of it but I'm hoping it will last a while because I'm not really planning to wear it everyday.

So in terms of wear, you're instructed to apply a visible layer to your eyelid, blend it in with your finger and leave it to dry. This is simple enough with a lipgloss style applicator and it doesn't take long to dry. I've tried this with a few shades of powder eyeshadow even though it's only meant for light, bright colours and it does stop them creasing well. However,  I have noticed that it does modify the colour of your chosen shadow a little, even if it is a light one which I didn't expect. I get around this by applying a bit more than usual and it gets back to how I like it. Considering this, I am tempted to buy the 'Smokey' shade to wear with my favourite darker shadows but I can't justify the price of having both if I'm honest, I don't think I'd get the wear out of it.

By the way, I started shadowing a teacher today and I've had an interesting time of it which involved having a book and some scissors accidentally thrown at me. What am I getting myself in to...

SHOW OFF: Top of The Tops

I've had a lot of new tops lately as since it's been a bit chilly I've been trying to wear trousers a bit more often. This is quite impossible when your main wardrobe consists of dresses and you don't have much to wear them with. Cue me going crazy about shirts before Christmas (just ask my friend Becky, I really did want them all) and now eying up every sweatshirt I see.

Top: Sleeveless Tee with Star Studs, Internacionale (past)
Middle: Beaded Cross Sweater, Internacionale (past)
Bottom: Sleeveless Tee with Camo/Horse Print H&M (current £7.99)

I'm wearing these three tops with everything and anything at the moment! The two from Internacionale have really nice detail with studs and the beaded crosses and the H&M one is an interesting print which also comes in green (it was a hard choice between them!).

Beaded Collar Jumper, H&M £24.99

Large Animal Print Tee, Next £14

Both of these tops were bought to wear with some smart trousers when I start my work experience this week (I now feel like a real life grown up). The jumper from H&M is really light weight and soft and has a lovely collar ,always a bonus. The top from Next is boxy and not what I'd usually go for because I'm rather small but it seemed perfect for smart casual scenarios and was a decent price for the quality. I also got some BARGAIN work trousers from the Next outlet to wear with these which I'm feeling very smug about; they fit perfectly and were only £13. I have to tell everyone about them!

And to talk about something a little more depressing, I'm off to throw on that beaded sweatshirt with a skirt, tights and maybe even some trainers before I go to a media lecture on war reportage, I think I'll have to make fizzy vimto with the soda stream to cheer myself up after that one.

Comparison: Face Masks

Whilst trying to "fix" my BF's troublesome skin I have come across a fair few face masks so I thought I would compare the two most recent ones I tried!

Product One.

First is Garnier Skin Naturals Pure Self-Heating Sauna Mask which I purchased from Superdrug for £1.09 (on offer). It comes with two sachets in one (handy!) and I found that one sachet was just enough to do both mine and my bf's face so we could save the other sachet for another day. You only had to leave it on for 3/4 minutes so it didn't feel like much fun but my skin felt nice and clean after so it did the job.

Pros
1. It left skin nice and clean but not dried out
2. It was really good value for money with enough for two faces in one sachet
3. It was virtually fragrance free so you didn't feel like you were putting any nasties on your skin

Cons
1. The supposed "sauna" effect didn't really happen
2. It was slightly messy to wash off
3. Only leaving it on for 4 minutes didn't really feel like I was being pampered, it was more of a quick fix which I could probably have got from washing my face

Product Two.

Next is the Rhubarb and Lingonberry Face Mask from H&M at 99p per sachet. I picked this up while I was buying a top as they were sneakily placed by the tills, there were lots of "flavours" to choose from but I picked this because I wanted a peel off one. It had a nice natural smell and was quite a thick gel so again, we managed to get two faces from one sachet because a little went  a long way. This seemed perfect for my skin but my BF felt a little dry after so it might be harsher on  more sensitive skin.

Pros
1. You wear it for 20 minutes; it felt much more of a treat than the other
2. It was no hassle. Due to it being a peel off mask there was no mess and it was easy to get it all off without leaving little bits behind
3. Left skin feeling smooth as well as clean

Cons
1. Not as good value for money in comparison to the other 
2. May be drying if your skin is on the sensitive side

Over all I'd buy both again. For a quick refresh the Garnier one is great and would be great before a shower to simplify the process of washing it off but if I wanted to feel pampered I'd choose the one from H&M and I'd certainly try their other varieties - the chocolate one is next on my list!

Nails Of The Day: No 7 Milan

So now that you've found out how I remove my nail polish it's time for a NOTD post. Today I'm painting my nails a shiny pink colour called "Milan" which costs £6 from the No7 Stay perfect range at Boots. I got this in my stocking at Christmas and it's the first time I've tried it so far...

One Coat of Milan... As you can see it's SO shiny :)

As soon as I put one stroke of this on to my nail I could see that it's really shimmery and thick but goes on easily. It also dried fairly quickly without any softness which causes those devastating dents in newly painted nails (seriously, how do they happen, I'm so careful!). I'm happy with these after just one coat; I can't wait to try my other colours now!

I also have this in another pink shade called "Twinkle" and a purple called "Violet" so look out for posts on those soon.

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Comparison: "Magic" Nail Polish Remover

I paint my nails reasonably often but there are days when I just want to quickly remove the chipped mess that my nails have become. Since Christmas 2011 when my Nan bought me a huge pile of nail related items I've been interested in so called "instant" nail polish removers. Now, here, I'm not talking about those pads that are already soaked in remover (you could make those yourself in my opinion) but more the pots with the neat little sponge inside. I've found two products I like to compare.

Product One.

For a long while I had been using Pretty Quik Instant Nail Polish Remover which comes in a neat little 30ml pot for £2.50. There is nothing particularly unpleasant about it and it removes nail polish fairly quickly, especially glitters which are hard to get off with the traditional cotton wool way of doing things.

Pro's:
1. Much quicker than cotton wool method.
2. Rather cheap (i'm quite sure i've seen them in Pound Land).
3. Good size - you don't have to stick your whole finger in, only the tip where they nail polish actually is!

Con
1. Doesn't last too long, you can see the white sponge inside getting dirty which is off putting when you want clean nails (in my experience lasts around 5-6 uses before it starts leaving a residue on your nail/skin).

Product Two.

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a pot of Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover which is a little pricey in my opinion at £4.99 but the pot is more than twice the size so technically just as good in value terms. This product one an Elle Beauty Award in 2012 and states that it only takes one second per nail to remove polish so I was expecting GREAT things. I've ended up a little disappointed but it's still much more effected than the cotton wool method and so far it has lasted around 6-8 uses.

Pro's:
1. It's also really quick, not quite one second, though!
2. Bigger pot (although not better value, really).

Con's
1. It smells SO bad. I end up choking every time I use it.
2. Although the pot is bigger so it's good that you get more the pot actually makes it really hard to get your finger far enough down to effectively rub your nail on the sponge.

Over all I'd have to say that i'm going to continue to use the Pretty Quik pots after the Bourjois runs out. I really struggle with the size of the pot and the smell of the remover in the Bourjois one so getting fewer uses from the cheaper alternative is a sacrafice i'm going to have to make, especially if they're available in Pound Land!