Nails of the daaaaay!

Hellooo!

Just a quick post to show you what colour and polish I'm currently rocking on my nails because I loveee it!

Just to let you know my nails aren't natural, I do have acrylic nails on that I get done at Lilly Nail and Beauty! They're so professional and last SO long! I've had mine on a fortnight and there has hardly been any growth at all! I usually get them infilled every 3-4 weeks! All the girls at Lilly's are lovely and so welcoming! 

Currently I'm wearing Barry M's Hi Shine Gelly Nail Paint in the shade 'Watermelon'!

Watermelon is a dark teal colour that dries lovely and dark on the nails! It's a perfect autumn colour because of its deep rich colour and I think I'll be wearing this colour a LOT. 

The colour actually dries darker on the nails than it does in the bottle!

I love these polishes - they're so glossy and shiny, they really do look like you've paid for gel nails whenever its a bargain at £3.99 from Boots or Superdrug!

It dries well on the nails even if the application is a bit streaky, within a few minutes the polish settles out to give a glossy, streak free finish!

At £3.99 these are some of the best nail products available at the moment from either the high street or high-end beauty products! They're the only type of nail varnish I even consider purchasing anymore!

If you haven't tried them I suggest you do! They have a great colour selection and every time I dander into a Superdrug store they have more colours available in this finish!

Barry M have also recently released more new autumn shades in a matte finish so I'm really looking forward to trying them and seeing how they compare! I love matte nails as well as shiny, glossy nails.. Oh to be honest I love most nail varnish finishes and Barry M have a finish to suit you!!

Barry M is currently on offer at Superdrug, and if you spend £9 on their products you get a free mascara so everyone hot foot it down there now or there'll be none left because I'll have bought them all.. :)

What do you think of these Hi Shine Gelly Nail Paints?

Are there any shades that you would recommend? 

Let me know!

I'm off to Alton Towers tomorrow for my first time so I'm hopefully going to get a good few photos up for all you thrillseekers out there!

Speak soon lovelies!

Rachel xxx 

What's on my lips...?

Hello beautiiiiiies!

I worked in a hospital allllll summer and it was damned hard work, so before I came back to Uni I wanted to treat myself, so obviously I headed straight to the MAC counter!
My friend Becca had recently bought 'Rebel' and I LOVED it on her so I definitely wanted to give it a try!

I had a £5 off voucher from my Debenhams beauty loyalty card so I decided I would treat myself, £10 for a MAC lipstick is good to me!

Rebel is a gorgeous dark berry fuschia colour that glides onto the lips soooo easily! It's my first MAC lipstick thats been a Satin Finish and I'm really impressed! It lasts sooo well on the lips, it definitely won't budge all day! Rihanna wears Rebel from time so I feel like a celeb when I wear it ;-) 

The only issue I had with Rebel was that I found it bled quite a bit around my lips.. So I dandered back to MAC and asked the sales assistant what lip liner was a good match to Rebel. She suggested Currant and whenever I seen it swatched on her hand I knew it was the one :) 

Swatches L-R - Rebel with Currant underneath, Rebel & Currant

Currant is a deeper shade of Berry and it glides on like a dreeeaaaaaaaam, it matches Rebel so well, either when worn just on the edge of the lips, or when worn all over with Rebel on top. With Currant underneath it lasts even longer! Its a perfect berry lip combo for Autumn and Winterrrr! I love it! The lip liner was £12, but they last foreeeever so I don't mind :)

Below are some pictures of me wearing Rebel with Currant underneath it. I wore it for a night out with a smoky eye, which was quite a lot having eyes and lips done but I don't really mind.. In Manchester nobody bats an eyelid even if you're wearing purple, blue or green lipstick so it's not that much of a big deal! In the second picture I was going to the pub so I just kept my eyes simple and had statement lips! If you've noticeed I got my nose pierced and I'm so happy with it! I completely missed it, it feels like an extra bit of jewellery on my face!!

Hope you enjoyed this post! 

Have any of you got Rebel or Currant? 

Let me know what you think in the comments or even tweet me.. You can follow me at @RachelVennard :) I'd love to hear to from anyone who reads this post so drop me a tweet about anything and everything :)

Until next time my dears :) 

xxx

Back to University!

Helloooo guyssss!

Just a quick wee post from me to explain what's going on at the minute in my life! 

I'm officially back to Manchester and have moved into my gorgeous house with my lovely flatmates for my second year of my degree in Human Nutrition!

I'm probably gonna be a bit absent over the next few weeks, I've a little bit of promo work lined up for Manchester Cars (a handy taxi company if any of you are from Manchester; or planning to make a visit anytime soon!) and then I have a trial shift for a permanent job this week as well! I'll be a busy little bee!

There's also the topic of FRESHERS. I know I'm not a fresher but it's still such a big part of uni regardless of what year you're in! My bestie Becca has just moved to Manchester for her degree so I'll be out partying with her pretending I'm still a fresher ;-) 

I officially start back to uni on the 26th! I can't wait to get back.. I know I sound like a nerd but I do love my degree! I think it's so important to do something you love or you're never gonna be willing to fully commit to doing the work involved with it!

So I should be back properly in a few weeks! I have a few posts lined up so hopefully once I'm settled back into a routine I can bash them out!

If any of you are starting (or returning) to university.. Enjoy Freshers! It's the one time you can actually afford to turn upto lectures hungover and get away with it! Value this time immensely ;-) and don't spend toooo much of your student loan!!

Rachel, x

My Glossybox Experience - Part two!

Hellooooo again! 

I'm back again with part two of my Glossybox experience! This post will focus on the Seaside Splash box that was released in July 2013! The box for this was turquoise and had starfish and coral on and it was gorgeous! The boxes being different for special months is so cute!

The five products in this box were as follows:

1. Alterna Haircare Bamboo Style Boho Waves Tousled Texture Mist

2. Coola Organic Mineral Face SPF 20 Rose Essence Tint

3. Sleek Makeup Pout Paint - 'Cloud 9' & 'Pin Up'

4. Anatomicals Spray Misty For Me Facial Spritz

5. Ciate London Paint Pot - 'Mistress'

Alterna Haircare's Bamboo Style Boho Wave Tousled Texture Mist (PHEW THAT'S A LONG ONE) is a product designed to give you those perfect beach waves without even needing to be anywhere near the sea! It's a salt spray that can be used on wet or dry hair! I usually avoid these kinds of products because I have short hair and I generally manage one wave and my hair runs out! But I've been using this and it has really been giving my hair a nice bit of texture that I usually don't have!

This is the full size bottle (125ml) which is £23! I never tend to spend a lot of money on haircare products to me so that seems SUPER steep but I do like this product! I just can't imagine I'll repurchase it again.. But I'll use it up and enjoy my lovely textured hair until it's done!

Next up on the agenda is the Organic Mineral Face SPF 20 Rose Essence Tint! This is a tinted moisturiser that has a primer in it in order to reduce pores! Its Hypoallergenic, paraben free and provides UVA and UVB protection! It's quite a liquidy consistency and doesn't have that much coverage. It has a nice smell of rose but it leaves quite a sticky consistency on the skin! I've used it a few times under my foundation but the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation I use already provides SPF 20 so I don't feel this is really a step I need to add into my current makeup routine.. The 50ml which I received in the Glossybox is the full size and costs £29.99.. It seems so expensive but I suppose the pricetag is related to the fact it's an organic product.. But I definitely won't repurchase this! I believe my mum might end up with this being thrown into her makeup bag!

There were 2 Sleek Pout Paints in the Glossybox, these cost £4.99 each! The red is 'Pin Up' and the white is 'Pout Paint'.. I will admit I was worried when I seen the white, I was unsure how I would ever use it.. But Becca gave me a great idea to blend the two together! The paints are soooooooo pigmented and you really do only need a tiny drop of each for a full lip application! They taste quite nice and last for eevvvverrrr! Lip stains are brilliant, basically one application and you know it'll still be there by the time you're going to bed! For a fiver I think these are brilliant, and you only need the tiniest drop so they literally will last FOREVER.

Next up is the Anatomicals 'Spray Misty For Me' Facial Spritz.. Facial sprays have been everywhere at the minute with the likes of Caudalie bringing out versions! Anatomicals are a cheaper, quirky brand with 'punny' names for all their products; the packaging is super cute too! This spray contains lavender, rose, peppermint and witch hazel.. It's so so refreshing, perfect for a quick spritz in the middle of a day to keep your makeup looking dewy and fresh! This 100ml bottle is £6 which is acceptable me, and I'd definitely think about purchasing it again and trying other products in their range! Anatomicals are sold on ASOS which is good because you can get your student discount then on top of the already acceptable prices ;-)

Last but not least is this gorgeous Ciate London Paint Pot in 'Mistress', a vivid bright red! Its quite a thin nail varnish, so I put on 3 covers to ensure I had an opaque finish and that it did the colour justice! It's super bright and definitely a colour that I would wear in the summer, but it's maybe just a bit too bright now we're coming into winter.. Darker tones tend to rule my nails in the winter! The packaging of Ciate's polishes is so cute with the little bow! This is my second Ciate polish and I'm really impressed with them, but for £9 they are on the higher end of the price scale! I know I'll use this product a lot but I don't know if I would purchase a paint pot for myself, especially when Barry M's Gelly polishes are £3.99 and give such a good finish! But I can't slate this product at all!

And finaaaalllly that's that!! I've been so impressed with the two Glossyboxes I've received, and it definitely helped that I only paid 14.95 total for the 2 of them! I do apologise that this offer isn't available on Glossybox at the minute but it finished literally a few days after I ordered it!

I hope you enjoyed reading! Let me know if you've ordered any Glossyboxes and what your opinion is of them!!

Talk soon dearies! 

xxx 

My first Glossybox experience - part one!

Hi! Hello! Bonjour! Hola!

It's the 7th of September and today it is officially COLD! Say goodbye to summer clothes and prepare for an influx of autumn clothes, umbrellas and random animal hats and scarves over the next few weeks!

I've been reading about Glossybox for so long and always wanted to try it, bu for a poor student £9.99 per box (plus p&p) was a bit of too much commitment! Glossybox had been running an offer that you could purchase 2 boxes for £12.00! I thought this was a bargain and went for it! 

I received the Glossybox 2nd birthday box for May and the Seaside Splash box which was released for July 2013!

I'll talk about the boxes in two separate posts! First the 2nd Birthday box!

There were 5 products with 2 other small additions in the box!

The products were:

1. Headline Colors Nail Polish - 'Gunmetal'

2. Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara

3. Awapuhi Wild Ginger Shine Spray

4. Collection Fast Stroke Eyeliner - 'Black 1'

5. Beautiful Movements Cosmetics Prime & Create Mixing Medium

There was also a packet of Glossybox mini nailfiles and a Green & Blacks chocolate! 

This nail polish is fullsize and costs £9 per 10ml! It looks gorgeous in the bottle but it looks even better on the nails! You are advised to apply two coats of polish to the nails, the first to apply the polish to the nails, and the second to provide a glossy top coat! I followed this advise and didn't even need a topcoat on top to make it shiny! This polish has UV absorbers to reduce chipping and flaking of the polish! From this I'm really impressed with Headline Colors and would be interested in trying another colour from them! The colours on their website (here!) look really vibrant and glossy!

Jelly Pong Pong's Fairy Lashes was the next present to be discovered! This has an RRP of £15 and there was a full size sample in the box! This mascara is said to be "non-clumping, lengthening and volumising".. I would agree that the mascara is non-clumping but I didn't really thing it did much for my lashes! In fairness to the product I have a mascara combination that really works for me at the minute so it probably was a little disadvantaged! Mind you the mascara is £15 for a tube, I'd rather splash out a few extra pounds and repurchase Benefit's They're Real or Lancome Drama mascara!!

Awaphui Wild Ginger is a brand I've never heard of before so it was good that the box would introduce you to products you maybe wouldn't have found before!! This Shine Spray retails £18.95 per 125ml can, and thats what you received in the box! 

The ingredients of this product are meant to condition and illuminate hair! It provides shine to hair and also protects your lovely locks from daily wear and tear! When I opened the box I presumed I wouldn't use it as my hair is generally quite silky and shine, but when I read into it I thought it would be good to give it a go as my hair needs a bit more protection since I began my transition to blonde! It smells like hairspray infused with ginger (which I suppose is obvious from the brands name!!) but it's quite refreshing on your hair because it makes it smell fresh! I don't know if I would repurchase as my hair routine is pretty simple but I'll certainly make sure I use up the can!

I was glad to see the Collection eyeliner in the box, I love their products and its always nice to see what eyeliner works best for you to create the cat eye look! This eyeliner has a really fine nib and a long handle which I love on a liquid eyeliner! It's a really black black which is great especially considering the liner is only £2.99! Happy with this product and I'm definitely gonna use it up! There's a blue version as well which I'm now tempted to try... ;-)

The product in the middle of this photo is a strange one! It's a clear Aloe Vera multi-use gel that can be used to create cream blushes, liquid eyeliners and help that last drop of foundation go a little bit further! I have to be honest I haven't really tried to use this yet! I'm a little afraid of it but I do plan to use it to turn some of my favourite eye shadows into eyeliners! My best friend is a make-up artist so this might go her direction as she'll probably have more of a clue what to use it for! You received a fullsize version of this gel which retails for £20 per 20g. It's pricey in my opinion!

The wee square of dark chocolate was a nice treat as well ;-)

I've been really impressed with my first Glossybox experience and my review of the Seaside Splash box will be up during the week! It's got some goodies hiding in there too so come and check it out!
Unfortunately this 2 for £12 offer is now over but I still think Glossyboxes are a nice wee investment! £10 a month (+ p&p) to get a present delivered to yourself for products that equate to waaaay more than £10! I'm thinking of asking for a years subscription for my birthday! :-)

Talk soon lovelies! xxx

Outfit of the night!

Hiiiiii! Once again sorry for the hiatus! I'm working flat out and everytime I get a day off I end up sleeping half the day away and being fit for nothing!! This is just a quick post to show what I wore out for dinner with my family on Saturday evening! The pictures were just quick snapshots I took before running out the door.. As I was late as per usual!! We went to Ed's Diner in Lisburn which is unbelievable! 

 

I wore Topshop's velvety leggings that I got in the sale last season.. But I seen they're in stock again for this autumn/winter so it means I can continue to wear them and not feel like I'm a season late! 

My baseball top is from h&m! It was £14.99 and I love it! Similar in style to the siksilk pieces, just without the hefty pricetag!! The vest top underneath is primark by the way!

My boots.. I think I'm in love with them! I've been wanting cut out boots for a while, seen these and fell head over heels in love! The best thing is they're from Primark and only cost £20! Bargain!! 

My denim jacket is from Oasis last year! The great thing about denim jackets is they can be brought out year after year.. This one was £48 so I intend to get a few more summers wear out of it!!

My necklace is last season from Primark, and my earrings are from the discount jewellery store Muse in Belfast! Ring is from Topman! And I got my lovely new bright pink Casio in Argos, were it was on sale for £9.99.. BARGAIN. I'm quickly becoming a Casio collector! My lipstick is 22 by Kate Moss for Rimmel! 

One last full body snap! Taken by my very uncooperative little brother who refused to retake even when my bra was out! So I apologise for that!! 

I'll be back soon I promise! I'm back to Manchester in 8 days so hopefully once I finish work on Thursday and get packed up for going back I'll have time to get a few more posts done! 

Thanks for reading! Xxxx