Sunday Nails - Easy As A Daisy

Every week lots of you guys comment on my Sunday Nails posts saying things like "Wow! How do you do that? I could never do nail art blah blah blah..." you get the gist. So if that is you, NOW IS YOUR TIME! 

This week I wanted to show you that nail art doesn't always have to be scary, difficult and you defiantly don't need to have a PHD in nail art(?) for you nails to look good, as sometimes simple designs can look as effective as those that take hours.

First I painted my nails blue with the Barry M nail polish that I mentioned in my last post, and then once my nails were dry I used a cocktail stick and a white nail varnish to create some cute little daisies, the daisies don't need to be perfect as daisies aren't all exactly the same, and then use the other end of the cocktail stick to put a dot of yellow nail varnish in the middle of each daisy.

I hope this has given some of you more confidence in yourself to try nail art and this is the perfect summer starter. Oh and trust me this won't take you like 4 hours! 

Eleanor xx

Small Beauty Haul

Rain rain go away come again another day, actually let me rewind that, rain rain go away and never ever come back again. I feel and look like drowned sloth, all because I forgot my umbrella, serves me right as everyone knows that British weather is about as predictable as the future, so unless you are a fortune teller or a weather lady then you are practically screwed.

I thought that I'd cheer myself up (and hopefully you guys), by posting some pictures that I took at the weekend when I took advantage of the glorious weather, showing you some of the beauty items I have purchases recently.

Eyelure Individual Lashes, a Mac Lipstick, Rimmel Stay Matte Powder and two Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Varnishes.

Now I am sure you are very familiar with this product - the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in the shade 001. With summer steadily approaching us my skin has been getting shinier and shinier, so a good powder was becoming ever more essential in my daily routine. After hearing so many good things about this powder I had to give it a go and at £3.99 it's hardly going to break the bank. It claims to provide up to 5 hours of shine control with natural minerals and so far I think I would say that but it does sit in my large pores a little, but at least it hasn't broken me out!

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder £3.99

For my last day of school on Friday I wanted to do my makeup extra nice as I knew I would be having my picture taken a lot throughout the day, so to make my eyelashes look more voluminous and long I decided that I would try some individual lashes. As you can see from the picture I used mainly short eyelashes. I found them easy to apply and they looked really natural so I think I might get another box of these for prom and also do a review on them.

Eyelure Black Individual Lashes £5.35

After sadly loosing my favourite Mac Lipstick Morange I knew it was about time that I treated myself to a new one and after doing a lot of research online I finally decided on Please Me.

Please Me is a beautiful medium toned pink in a Matte finish. It is has more blue undertones than brown undertones, which is something I was looking for. Yes, the matte finish can be slightly drying on my already dry lips but on top of a bit of Vaseline this lipstick looks amazing!

Mac Lipstick Please Me £14

I have quite a few nail varnishes in the new 'Gelly Hi-Shine' formula from Barry M and I like it quite a lot. I've always loved Barry M's ability to produce such amazing quality nail varnishes for such a reasonable price so it is always the first stand I look at if I'm looking for a specific colour, so when I was looking for a new nude nail polish and saw they were on offer I couldn't resist buying Blueberry and well as Lychee .

Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine Nail Paint in Lychee and Blueberry £3.99

I hope you liked what I bought but on another note who is excited about The Great Gatsby being released in the UK cinemas on Thursday. I am so excited I might have to go see it a couple of times, it's like the perfect film for me: romance, action, partying and a soundtrack produced by Jay Z featuring BEYONCE! But till then I will just have to satisfy my needs by listening to the heavenly sounds of Beyonce and Lana Del Rey on the sound track. Please tell me I'm not the only person excited?

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Aztec

Aztec or tribal nails are one of those patterns that look incredibly simple but I always really struggle to pull them off, this is probably because of the preciseness that is needed to make them look successful, which I sadly do not possess. 

But per usual I thought I'd have a go and after a few unsuccessful attempts they finally turned out looking alright. I'd just like to add that they look better in real life than in the pictures!

You may have also noticed that I decided to be a good blogger this week and actually paint both hands, instead of being lazy and only doing one. It's about time too as people had started asking me why I had only done one hand!

I hope you've had as lovely a week as I have had, as on Friday it was my last (official) day of school. In the morning I had a lovely breakfast with my friends before making our way into school for celebration assemblies, signing shirts, photo's and cake. It was such a lovely day and one I will remember forever. 

Good luck if your exams are starting tomorrow like mine.

Eleanor xx

May Wishlist

Happy May! Well not so happy for me as it means the beginning of my exams, but I'm trying to look on the bright side as it also means I'm getting closer to Prom, summer and hot holidays!

Topshop Cut Out Dress - £42

This dress is so me, when I saw it in Topshop the other day on the manikin my mother had to practically hold me back. It's so pretty and summery and I know that I will own it, when it's back in stock on the website that is *mutters under her breath*. Anyway I love the pop of colours on the monochrome background and the cutouts make the shape a little more interesting. Even though it is £42, which is a lot for a dress in my book, it is beautiful. Oh well there's always student discount eh?

River Island Black Mesh Insert Vest - £22

River Island has always been a bit hit or miss, I feel like their designs go through stages of chavvy, girly, tacky and edgy, but this season I think 80% of their designs are great, not to mention their collaboration with Rihanna. When I saw this vest online I thought it was beautiful. Yes, it does have the risk of being slutty if not styled correctly but I think I could do it justice.

Hair Chalk In Pink - £4

I've heard about hair chalk quite a bit but not until now have I seen it available on the high street. You basically just colour in your hair with the piece of chalk and then it washes out when you wash your hair, perfect for festivals or just to see if you like dip dye hair before you commit to dying it. It comes in a variety of colours and for less than a fiver I think it's a bargain.

Boohoo Long Dungarees - £25

I love dungarees, they look somewhat childish but because they are long you won't look like you've stumbled out of a ball pit in Wacky Warehouse. This picture doesn't do them justice but on the model they look amazing and paired with a crop top they are perfect summer alternative to jeans. The great thing is they are only £25, which is a lot cheaper than they look because of the extra detail in the form of rips.

White Platform Superga Trainers - £45

I cannot tell you how long I have wanted a pair of plain white platform trainers ever since I was in town and saw a girl wearing some with a pair of rolled up jeans. They looked stunning and I had to find myself a pair. Also I know Superga's are getting a bit common but these are different to any other Superga's I've seen, so I've convinced myself they're acceptable!

I think my obsession with shopping is getting progressively worse, with no thanks to Wantworthy! But it's a new season, I need new clothes, especially since next year I will be wearing my own clothes everyday at Sixth Form. It's not an obsession, it's necessary. Well, that's what I keep telling myself anyway!

Maybe I should go on a spending ban? If you've ever been on one, what was it like? 

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails- Sunsets and Silhouettes

Finally the sun has decided to his face and it is starting to feel like summer, yay! The thing I love most about summer is sitting out in the garden with some candles and watching the sunset. Seeing the soft purple hues dancing among the fiery reds signify the end of a perfect summers day for me, sorry this is getting a bit too much like 'Poetry Live', anyway, sunsets are therefore the main inspiration for my nails this week.

All I used to create this look was 5 different 'sunset' colours and blended them with a sponge to create a simple ombre effect,then a nail art pen and a steady hand to create the silhouettes.

You may notice I have only put a picture of one hand (my left hand) and that is because my right hand went a bit dodgy, but I'm sure you will be smarter than me and get a unsuspecting willing friend to do your other hand!

As it's now summer, I'm starting to try come up with a 'cool things to do after my exams list', so I'd love to know what your planning to do this summer for some inspiration, but also just because I'm nosy! 

Eleanor xx

April Rate Or Hate

I'd just like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who wished me good luck for my art exam in my last post, you guys gave me confidence and helped me when I was incredibly nervous on Monday morning, so thanks again. Oh and in case you were wondering it went fine!

Even though I've got my drama exam tomorrow and I am becoming quite busy, I knew I had to make time to blog about my April rate and hates.

This months rate or hate -

V05 Mega Hold Gel Spray and Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

Rate -

I bought the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer at the beginning of the month but I wish I'd bought it sooner as it is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It doesn't cost a lot but doesn't feel like a cheap, rubbish product and it is good enough to be sold by high end brands such as Estee Lauder or Mac. 

This is a medium to high coverage concealer and unlike other concealers it isn't cakey but easily blended with a fluffy brush such as the Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush.

The only bad points are the packaging, as all the writing rubs off onto your hands which can be quite irritating, the shade range (it only comes in 4 shades) and also I wouldn't recommend this as an under eye concealer because it does crease but considering this concealer is only £4.19 you can't expect it be to a miracle worker!

Hate -  

The V05 mega hold gel spray is one of the most hideous products I have ever put on my head. I don't really know what I was expecting it to be like when I tried it so it somewhat surprised me - but not in a good way. I sprayed it on my hair and ran it through to the ends of my hair as instructed but when it dried on my hair it when hard and crunchy, which is not a good look.

To be fair it did smell really nice but I'm not going to spray a product on my hair if it doesn't hold my hair and makes it crunchy, but it smells nice.

I hope my hairdresser doesn't use any similar products to the V05 gel spray, as on Thursday I'm having a trial run for my Prom hair, I'm so excited! 

Eleanor xx

Sunday Nails - Already Dead

Please ignore the hideously chipped state of my nails, I've had this black nail varnish on for a couple of days now and my nails are looking a bit worse for wear. 

Since I took this photo this morning my nails have chipped even more, so I'll probably take this off later, which I don't mind as I've got my art exam tomorrow and acrylic paint doesn't come off if I get it on my nails.

I love it when nail art forms a picture across your nails. 

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. Apart from being snowed under with art preparation and general revision I had a lovely day yesterday, shopping during the day (which included a delicious piece of gateau in Patisserie Valerie YUM!) and going to round to my friend's house in the evening for her birthday. 

We all had a girly catch up over pizza and the film John Tucker Must Die, it's old but still a great film and I'd recommend you watch it if your into films like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless. If you've got any good, classic film recommendations leave them down below as I have a feeling after this week I will defiantly be in the mood to watch some rom-coms with a big bowl of sweeties and popcorn! 

Eleanor xx