Products of the Month - October

Look! It's me! In a video! Oooh technology!

Role models

As any regular readers might have noticed, I've slowly been becoming more than a little bit obsessed with nail art and nail varnish. I wear nail varnish every day (I hate seeing naked nails!) and I paint my nails at least a couple of times a week, because I get bored really easily and always want to change things up. It's even gotten to the point where, not content with just painting my own, I keep demanding that my sisters let me paint their nails too. My collection of nail varnishes is increasing at a frighteningly rapid rate, and if you ever happen to go into the Liverpool One branch of Superdrug, there is a fair chance that you'll see me, pale and twitchy, lurking around the Barry M section, asking people to spare some change so that I can get just one more hit nail varnish. Ok, maybe that last bit is a slight exaggeration, but I think you get the point - I LOVE NAIL VARNISH!.

It probably comes as no surprise then, that when cheap and cheerful cosmetics brand, Models Own, recently had a 50% off everything sale online (to celebrate getting 10,000 'Likes' on their Facebook page - wowza!) , I got quite seriously excited. I was already a fan of this brand as it has a MASSIVE range of nail colours available, as well as other cosmetics such as lipsticks and eyeshadows and it's really reasonably priced (I think most products are priced around £5/£6) . Having previously tried a couple of their products (they recently started stocking it at my local Boots) I knew I had to get all over this sale like a Premiere League footballer on a cheap WAG wannabe (oooh! Topical!). Here's what I bought...

Nail Polishes: Red Alert, Coral Reef, Pink Blush, Purple Grey, Black Magic

Pearl Pink Powder Eyeshadow

Brushes: Angled, Blending, Shading

As my nail varnish collection is already full of unusual colours, I decided to go for some 'standard', traditional colours instead. Red Alert is a proper fire engine red, because everyone needs a red nail varnish don't they? Black Magic is a rich, shiny black, for when I'm feeling a bit vampy ;) Pink Blush is super pink and girly and Coral Reef is a vivid coral, leaning more towards a kind of reddish orange (you can see some better images of Coral Reef on my new nail art page). I also bought Purple Black which is an absolutely brilliant dupe for Chanel's new Paradoxal - check out The Swatchaholic's comparison of the two - they're very similar and the Models Own version is about a quarter of the price! Not satisfied with just buying nail varnish, I had a little snoop around the rest of the site and also got the Pearl Pink powder eyeshadow; a gorgeous shimmery powder that works really well as a highlighter on the brow bown, and the three eyeshadow brushes, all of which are really good quality (I especially like the blending brush for blending shadow into the socket). And the cost for all that? £18! Not bad eh?

Apparently, because the traffic during the sale was really high, a lot of people couldn't actually get onto the Models Own site at all, which must have been really frustrating (I remember the same thing happening during the farce that was the Outnet 'Everything for a £1' Sale - NIGHTMARE). I didn't have any problems when I made my order, but I think I waited until the second day of the sale and probably did it quite late at night to avoid traffic. The only issue I had was that I didn't recieve my makeup brushes until a week after my other stuff, despite the fact that they were all ordered at the same time. I wouldn't really have minded this, except Models Own didn't give me a heads up to say that the brushes would be arriving late, and didn't even respond when I emailed them asking where they were; the brushes just arrived, with no note or anything, a week later. Not the best customer service in the world, but I imagine that week was particularly hectic as everyone seemed to go a bit mental for the sale! And it's only quite a small thing, the overall transaction was very easy and the first batch of stuff did arrive really quickly.

All in all, I'm a big fan of Models Own, and I'm really glad I took advantage of the sale. I've just revisited the site and had another look through all the nail colours and I've already got my eye on a few more... this won't end well... I fear I might have to start attending Nail Painters Anonymous...

S H O P P I N G - we're SHOPPING!

Everywhere I go, there seems to be reminders from ASOS telling me that they've got a sale on. Well... I say 'everywhere I go', I mean everywhere I go on the Internet; it's not as if there's some kind of Derren Brown-esque subliminal messaging situation going on, where I'm sitting on the bus and all the billboards I drive past are telling me in some kind of clever, subliminal way to spend all my money on celebrity-inspired fashion, oh no (just in case that's what you were thinking). In fact, it's actually my own fault, because I follow them on Facebook AND Twitter and also recieve their newsletter; so at the moment I'm being bombarded with Tweets and updates and newsletters that are basically just going BUY BUY BUY! I tried to ignore it; I was good for a week or so but then, yesterday afternoon, I thought "I'll just go and have a look". It was all perfectly innocent really, I mean, I'm not even that keen on buying clothes online, because, as I've mentioned before, my size varies from shop to shop and I hate all the hassle of sending stuff back if it doesn't fit. But ASOS doesn't just sell clothes does it? Oh no, ASOS sells EVERYTHING! And do you know what I always need? New accessories!

So I bought a few little trinkets. The good thing about the ASOS sale is that they actually do reduce the prices significantly; it's not like French Connection, where they knock about £2 off and expect you to be really grateful, oh no, at ASOS they understand that a sale is a SALE and I want to be able to buy a whole new wardrobe for less than £30 and still have change leftover for a steak dinner and a ride on the ferry (WHAT? I don't even know...)

Anyway, because my poor little camera seems to have inexplicably died a death, I figured that when my new items arrive, I'm not going to be able to photograph them to show them off, so I'll just post the images from the site. They're due to arrive the week after next because I chose the free delivery method (see? I'm very good at this thrifty thing!) so for now I shall look at the pictures and imagine all the fun that my items and I will have together.

ASOS Star Quilted Padlock Bag - I need a good black bag that can fit a lot of stuff in (no small bags for me, no thank you) and this looks like a decent size and shape to suit my needs. Plus, I'm hoping that even though it's quite cheap, it actually looks fairly expensive in person, thus making me look a lot fancier than I really am. If this isn't the case, and it actually just looks a bit tacky, I'm kind of ok with that too.

ASOS Paint by Ciate nail varnish in Chloe and Lily - you know I love nail varnish, so there's not much explanation needed for these. I just thought the colours looked pretty and I've had my eye on the Ciate varnishes for ages but not gotten around to buying them. Will probably do a review of these when they arrive.

ASOS Enamelled Starburst Ring - I know that this looks kind of tacky, but again, I'm kind of ok with that; I'm in a very tacky frame of mind at the moment (I'm sure I should be worried about this). Plus I love how pink it is, reminds me of Barbie!

See? I didn't get too carried away; just bought a few items, that I desperately need to have in my life and really didn't cost much AT ALL. Plus, ASOS are also offering an extra 10% off if you enter the code ASOSTreats at the checkout. So really, it would be a crime not to buy anything, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?!

Barry

I'm away this weekend, so posting is going to be minimal, still, I'm making a bit of effort by scheduling this and another one for tomorrow. DEDICATION, PEOPLE!

Barry M Nail Paint in Matt White, you make me feel so creative.

Other colours used - 17 Lasting Finish in Baked Cherry and Parma Violet, Barry M Nail Paint in Turquoise, Mint Green and Pink Flamingo. Black detail done with the Topshop felt tip eyeliner.

It's 2am - why am I doing this now?!

Currently wearing

Barry M Nail Paint in Pink Flamingo.

This is the perfect pinky-coral colour - I have a whole box full of nail varnishes but all of them look so boring compared to this, I've been wearing it obsessively for days (and I usually change things up every couple of days). If anyone knows of a lipstick in a similar shade please please tell me of it, I'm really loving coral at the moment.

Also, bit random but I've recently been using graze.com, which is a marvellous site that delivers yummy, natural snacks straight to your door. They have an amazing range of snacks to choose from and if you use this code - 8X1MFPG - you can get your first box for free! Just thought I'd share the love (and for every friend I refer, I get £1 off my next order). I thoroughly recomment the wasapeas, the golden honey nut hazels and the cracked black pepper cashews. YUMMY!

Snap-happy

Now that the sun has well and truly buggered off again, I can finally catch up on my blogging shenanigans. Like I said on Monday, I've got lots to talk about so I'm going to try to do several posts over the next few days. We'll see how it goes.

Three years ago, my parents gave me a camera for Christmas. It's not one of those fancy Nikon or Canon ones with the big zoom lens or anything like that, it's just a standard, automatic digital camera, Samsung Digimax to be exact, 7.2 mega pixels, I don't really know what that means. Anyay, my mum told me that it can actually do some cool stuff, and it does have lots of settings, but since I lost the instruction booklet and have absolutely no clue when it comes to photography, (what the hell's an ISO?) I've pretty much only ever used it to take photos of friends etc on nights out.

I decided, about a month or so ago, to mess about with the camera in my garden as the sun was shining and the flowers looked pretty, and by randomly kind of pressing buttons and fiddling with the different numbers (which still mean nothing to me) I ended up with some reasonably ok-ish photos. Like I said, I'm no photographer, I have no idea about this stuff - a photo is either interesting/pretty or it isn't, but I'm quite proud of these shots;

See, pretty right? Right?!

Only problem is, because I was just pressing stuff at random, I don't really remember what I did and any close-ups or arty shots I've attempted since then have ended up being a blurry mess.

Until today!

I've been taking photos of my nails alot recently, because I've become a bit obsessed with nail art and have been trying lots of new things, but most of the images have ended up being blurry or too flashy (notice my expert use of photography lingo) and therefore rubbish. Earlier today though, I pressed this little button with a picture of a flower on it and voila! Super-detailed close-up!

I couldn't decide what colour to wear, so I just put them all on!

(Colours used - Chanel Le Vernis in Particuliere, Barry M Nail Paint in Grey, Turquoise, Pink Flamingo and Mint Green, 17 Lasting Fix in Parma Violet and Topshop Nails in Stolen Sapphires)

I'm sure you can get even better detail with a really fancy camera, but for a three-year-old standard digicam, I'm pretty pleased with this!

The nails were inspired by Dusky Ledoux's Monet-style nails, which were in turn inspired by Gem Fatale's creations, which were inspired by the geniuses (genii?) at WAH Nails.

Basically, nail art is like, totally everywhere, yeah?

Born to be wild

Being the beauty junkie that I am, I quite often find myself watching online tutorials (hair/makeup/nails etc etc) vainly trying to recreate something that seems fairly simple, but in reality is actually very bloody difficult. For example, there are literally hundreds of 'simple smokey eye' tutorials out there, yet no matter how hard I try, no matter which products I use and how much blending I do, I end up looking less sultry, sexy chic and more prostitute panda. Maybe it's my makeup, maybe it's my eyes or maybe I'm just not made to apply makeup in a 'smokey' manner, but generally online tutorials and I just don't mix.

However, on Friday, I learned a wonderful thing. A thing so wonderful, I may put it up there with the other really important things I've learned in my life, such as the alphabet and the names of all of Santa's reindeer. On Friday, I learned how to do this!

That's MY hand! And those are MY nails! And they're leopard print!!! (Well... kind of)

[Products used - base coat - Rimmel Nail Rescue, colours - Barry M Nail Paint in Turquoise, Collection 2000 Hot Looks in Hula Hoop, detail - Collection 2000 Fast Stroke Eyeliner in Black and top coat - Rimmel Lasting Finish in Natural]

Believe me, it's incredibly easy, albeit slightly fiddly. The full tutorial is HERE on Gem Fatale's blog; (which is brilliant by the way) all you need is a couple of different colours of nail varnish, a top coat and a liquid eyeliner for the detail! Yeah! An eyeliner! GENIUS!!!

I got so leopard print happy I also did Liv's -

This is just a random photo she Tweeted - not great quality I know, but you get the idea. [Products used - same as above for base coat, top coat and eyeliner, colours - Barry M Nail Paint in Grey and 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Baked Cherry]

I think this is going to be the start of an obsession for decorated nails. It's such a great idea because leopard spots are completely random anyway, so they don't have to be particularly neat. Plus, you can do so many colour combinations! After sporting the blue and pink all weekend, I've just redone my nails in the more traditional leopard print colours, using Chanel Particuliere and Sleek Nailed Polish in Brownie;

Argh, I love it!

Believe me, if a buffoon like me can do it, anybody can! Let me know if you try it out or send me a picture!

Right, good. Time for Desperate Housewives...

Particularly peculiar

I've been a bit rubbish on the blog front of late. The main reason for this is that I'm three weeks into a new job which mainly involves me spending a large amount of time in front of a computer. Sadly, when I get home after a long day at the office (haha I work in an office now, never thought I'd see the day!), the last thing I want to do is spend more time staring at a computer screen. Obviously, for this blog to actually exist, I have to spend SOME time in front of a computer screen as, contrary to popular belief, these things don't write themselves (seriously, they don't, I've had a chat with my laptop about it and he's just not interested) so I'm going to just have to man up and accept the fact that I'm slowly destroying my eyes. So yeah, regular blogging will recommence soon, je promise. I've got so much to write about too! There's a list of ideas and photographs and all sorts!

Anyway, all that nonsense aside, tonight I wanted to talk about something that (for me at least) is a bit exciting. Recently, I've been ALL ABOUT the nail varnish; this started because I've always bitten my nails, ever since I was a VERY little curly girl, but one of the things that would dissuade me a bit from biting them was painting them nicely. So I figured I'd buy lots of colourful nail varnishes in the hope that my prettily painted nails would subdue my bitey bitey urges. It seems to have done the trick and I can officially say I'm a nail biter no more. Hurrah! Even though I've quit the habit, I still keep them painted most of the time, just because I think they look a bit more interesting and because there's SO MANY exciting colours available! I've been wearing an incredibly vibrant shade of light blue all week and, honestly, it really cheers me up to look down and see my lovely blue nails smiling back at me! (they don't literally smile, that would be terrifying.)

I've been using mainly cheap nail varnishes, such as Barry M and Collection 2000 because I like to have a wide range of colours to choose from so it obviously makes more sense to stick to the cheap and cheerful brands. However, on Thursday, my sister got a call from the Chanel counter in the Liverpool branch of John Lewis saying that they'd just got a new batch of Particuliere in. Now, just to clarify, my sister was on a waiting list for Particuliere; Chanel don't phone her up every time they get something new in, we're not that fancy in my family! Now, as you know, as much as I'd like to be, I am NOT the kind of person who would usually spend a silly amount of money on something so frivolous, and in my book, £16 for a bottle of nail varnish is definitely frivolous. However, Particuliere is pretty much the biggest nail varnish this season and has been virtually impossible to get a hold of. So when I heard that Liv was going to buy a bottle, I asked her to see if she could get me one as well. Lo and behold she did!

Have you ever tried to take a photograph of your own hand? It is more difficult than you'd expect.

Now I can imagine some people going "£16 on a bottle of dark baige nail varnish?! Franki, are you completely insane???" and the answer to that question is probably yes. But my reasoning for this is as follows;

• I've just started a new job so can justify treating myself a bit,
• It really is a very lovely, flattering colour and I've wanted it for ages
• If I'd been able to find a similar, cheaper alternative, I would probably have bought that instead, but I've not seen anything that's even vaguely similar.
• It's been selling out like crazy all over the place so it's quite exciting to say I own a product that's so in demand
• It's probably the only Chanel item I'll own for a very long time. Hopefully when I'm rich and successful (doing God only knows what) I'll be able to splash out on Chanel coats and bags and things, but for now, my little bottle of Particuliere will do.

LOOK! The models wore it on the Spring 2010 catwalk! I own something that's been seen on a Chanel catwalk!

I was very tempted to buy a second bottle to sell on eBay, because it's selling for WAY above the RRP, but I didn't get the chance to go into John Lewis when I was in town yesterday, and it's very probably sold out again now. Plus, I don't think Karl Lagerfeld would ever want to be my friend if he knew I was selling his wares on eBay, it just doesn't seem right somehow...

To be perfectly honest, I was expecting a lot for £16 but apart from the lovely colour, there's nothing really special about it. I mean, it's easy to apply and has a really good, smooth finish, but one of my nails chipped after a day and I'm pretty sure I hadn't done anything crazy with my hands. If I'd been playing the guitar or grating cheese or something, I'd accept it, but I'd literally done nothing! Maybe I should have applied a top coat to protect it, but then you think, for £16 it shouldn't really need a top coat, should it? I probably won't be buying any more Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour any time soon, because, let's face it, having fancy nails is great but I'd much rather spend my money on clothes and chocolate, but it is nice to be the owner of something a bit luxurious for once. Saying that though, Nouvelle Vague is really pretty...