Christmas is always the optimum time to have the most in your face, sparkly, gaudy nails possible and this year was no exception!

I opted for festive red polish from the Fearne Cotton Christmas Set slathered all over my nails with an accent nail covered in glitter on my ring fingers. The glitter in question was GOSH Glitter Nail Dust in Gold, applied with an extremely old and useless eye makeup brush which turned out to be perfect for the gradient effect I was aiming for!

I used the brush to press a heavy amount on the top of two damp coats of red polish and then just dusted more on down the nail until the glitter was thin enough to look like a glitter gradient down the nail! Top it off with a touch of the miracle drying agent Seche Vite and voila- perfect gaudy nails for Christmas!

What did you wear on your nails, and what are your nail related plans for New Year?!

cranberry lips.

Its CHRISTMASSSSSS!

Stating the obvious there, but I'm finally starting to get a little bit excited for the big day! As I've gotten older it feels like Christmas is gradually losing its magic, however I know on Christmas morning I'll be transported back in time to when I was 5 again, and the magic with be back.

I wore the makeup above to a Christmas Pantomime a few weeks ago, and the 'its behind you!'s and watching Widow Twanky cavort around the stage really started to ignite my Christmas spirit. Its always lovely watching everyone come together at Christmas time, and of course it was a perfect opportunity to wear some festive type makeup!

I felt extremely brave wearing out 'cranberry' coloured lips to the theatre, even though it was dark I still felt a bit exposed with bight red garish lips on, but hey- its Christmas so who cares?! Ironically, I despise Cranberry Sauce, its all about the gravy for Christmas lunch!

I used my Collection 2000 Lip Liner in Watermelon and my Sleek Lipstick in OMG to create a darker lip and of course my beloved Naked Palette on the eyes for a little sparkle!

I hope your all well and looking forward to the big day in just 1 sleep, 2 hours and 31 minutes as of right now!

Merry Christmas & Have A Fantabulous New Year ♥

cream collection.

Cream eyeshadows have become a big favourite of mine over the past few months as I much prefer the look of dewy, smudgy shadow rather than the effects from their powdery counterparts. 

There's just one major downside- the creasing! I don't class myself as having exceptionally oily eyelids, rather just normal ones, however cream eyeshadows seem to seriously disagree with me in terms of longevity. Generally this problem is solved with a slick of Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath, except in exceptional cases, when even in the most perfect conditions some cream shadows cannot last more than 4 hours, not naming any names... *cough* MAC Paint Pot *cough*

These are the few products I own in my collection... 

1)No7 Stay Perfect Eye Mousse in Pewter and Fudge 2)Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten 3)MAC Paint Pot in Painterly 4)ELF Cream Eyeshadow in Dawn and Bronzed

Swatches in same order as above.

No7 Stay Perfect Eye Mousse in Pewter and Fudge - These are my all time favourite cream shadows, hands down! They wear the best, are the smoothest, most easily applied eyeshadows I have ever used, and are only £4 when those wonderful No 7 vouchers are hanging about!

Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten - This is a gorgeous creamy shadow, although at £16 it is a little on the steep side, but hey that's what Boots Points are for! Although gorgeous, I do find this doesn't wear amazingly and needs an good base to stay perfect.

MAC Paint Pot in Painterly - This cult product is raved about all over blogs and YouTube, however I'm not its biggest fan in the world. I feel like a good concealer could easily replace this in my makeup routine and it smudges like crazy!

ELF Cream Eyeshadow in Dawn and Bronzed - I had high hopes for these newcomers to the ELF line, and although they are beautiful shades, the texture could be improved as they do have the tendency to clump up, especially in the shade Dawn, which has chunky glitter in it. 

I'm a massive fan of all makeup products with a creamy consistency, and am also obsessive about my cream blushes and am slowly building up my collection, so any more suggestions are much appreciated!

Have a lovely week beautifuls!

polishes of the moment!

Magpie-ism is the term I like to use to describe the chronic disorder of being completely and utterly devoted to anything shiny, metallic or glittery. In winter especially, when the dark nights call for a little bit of sparkle to light up my life, this trait comes out in full force, especially in my nail polish choices.

First up is a recent discovery in Gosh Nail Lacquer in Purple Heart, which is the most beautiful duo-chrome purple, blue, green, black mix that is one of those perfect 'I can't stop staring at my nails' type colours!

In the middle are the beautiful new Magnetism Nail Lacquers by Fashionista in Purple Me Up and Notorious Silver. Not only are these polishes endorsed by none other that the amazing Saturdays (what other reason do you need!?) but also change into the most beautiful wavy interesting pattern when using the magnet. This unique design has acquired me many a compliment on my nails, although the only downside to this range is the chipping- like crazy!

Last but not least and a regular favourite is Accessorize Nail Polish in Bronze which I have already babbled on enough about here, but I just couldn't resist throwing its beautifulness into a post once again!

I am desperately in need to bulk up my 'glitter nail' collection, and am on the hunt for more gorgeous polishes to add, so any recommendation are much appreciated!

Have a lovely week!

baby's got her blue jeans on!

This is what I wore this weekend on a wee trip down the ‘flicks’ to see Breaking Dawn, which I must say is freaking amazing! I have accidentally fallen back in love with Edward Cullen again, and that movie completely rejuvenated my past love affair with Twilight, which had been diminishing slightly after reading the whole series five times!

Jeans - Primark, Jumper - H&M, Shirt - Primark

It was freezing on the day in question and this jumper from H&M, the snuggliest thing ever, just had to have a little trip out to see Bella&Co! My jeans are literally the best thing to come out of Primark; at only £9 they have survived multiple months without fading, stretching, or, god forbid; splitting! The fringe top, also a Primark bargain, actually has a picture of Mickey Mouse on it, which I am a little bit in love with, and I loveee mixing a bit of fringe and aztec pattern- match made in heaven! 

Here's another outfit (from a while ago, bad blogger!) when Mickey got let loose full throttle:

 

That's enough outfit posts for one day from me, what did you think of Breaking Dawn?!

Lots of love from Hannah and Mickey ♥

sixth form wardrobe 2.0

Now its getting into November, the nights are getting darker, the weather colder and the school workload heavier. However, a new school term calls for just one thing. A new mental attitude to learning? A new pencil case? No, a new sixth form wardrobe of course!

Over half term I took a little trip down to Oxford Street with the sole objective of obtaining as many new sixth form clothes as humanely possible; I get extremely bored of wearing the same things over and over again! Here's a few brand new outfits I will be stringing together this term as I slug over my maths homework...

Dress - H&M, Belt - Primark, Cardigan - Pull&Bear

Skirt - Warehouse, Blouse - Warehouse, Blazer - H&M, Belt - Primark

Blouse - Primark, Skirt - H&M

Shirt - Primark, Skirt - Matalan, Cardigan - Pull&Bear

Skirt - H&M, Shirt - Primark, Blazer - H&M

To see my original set of outfits for sixth form, here's Sixth Form Wardrobe 1.0!

I am still desperately in need of some beautiful chino type trousers to wear in the colder months, can you believe I haven't worn trousers to school once in the 5 years I've been there!? Must change that soon!

Have a great weekend my lovelies!

donuts are a girl's best friend.

I'm looking super ginge in these pictures! Unfortunately just a product of over used flash more than actual hair colour!

Donuts. Although they are the most delicious snacks in the world, the humble donut can also be a hair saviour in the styling world.

I bought this mesh donut from Primark, £2, a while ago and have been recently really appreciating its life saving properties! A device which needs dirty, messy hair to work into a extremely sophisticated style...? Yes please!

It takes two minutes- a little backcombing after shoving the hair up into a high ponytail is all that is required to stuff the ring around the pony and evenly distribute the hair around, and its a saviour for girls like me who have such fine hair that a bun of this magnitude was completely out of the question before.

There's something about this type of neat, rounded bun that screams Audrey Hepburn to me, and I've recently been a bit drawn to Tiffany's to eat a spot of toast.

The only downside I find to these hair donuts is the ever prominent fear that parts of the mesh will be visible under the hair, especially if you have very fine hair like me! I live in fear that people will discover my hair secret with random bits of mesh sticking out from my perfect bun... but hey, that's what bobby pins were made for!

These little rings are my new best friend when dealing with unruly, dirty locks and are amazing cheap at just £2... winning! :)

accidental blonde!

My hair has always been a bit of an oddball. It can never make up its mind what colour it wants to be, switching constantly from a little bit blonde to a little bit brown to a little bit grey (especially after a dry shampoo disaster!). Its always had natural blonde highlights running through it which especially come out in the sun, which look almost ginger at times... and don't even get me started on my majorly dark eyebrows compared to hair colour!

Over the summer I was craving a bit of a change as you may have noticed from my 'I want ombre hair and I want it now!' moans all over my blog and twitter so on a whim I picked up the John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder Lightening Spray a few months back, hoping for miracle results!

On the first few applications I wasn't too impressed; it was to be applied to damp hair and then blow dried, which I wasn't exactly thrilled about as I have been on a no-heat mission for the past year! I did however succumb to a few bouts of heat to give the Lightening Spray a fair chance to work, and after about a 2 weeks there was a noticeable difference...

The spray definitely brought out the blonde in my hair, and I now have an almost ombre effect going, which was entirely accidental considering I didn't even mean to put it just on the ends- that's sloppy application for you!

The thing that worries me about this spray is the misconceptions surrounding it. Although I didn't realise it when using, this does actually contain Hydrogen Peroxide (always read the label!) and as Nikki commented on my haul post where I mentioned this, you are actually leaving bleach in your hair for 2 to 3 days at a time, which is never going to be exactly beneficial to your hair! My sister's friends who are actually hairdressers were shocked that me and my sister were using this a few times a week, and thankfully I did only use it around 6 times, stopping before it did any lasting damage!

So overall, I like this... but not the consequences. I love being a bit more blonde, and although it hasn't drastically changed my hair colour its enough of a change to quench my hair colour boredom. I wont be using this again unless I feel the need for a bit of colour revival or possible to go a bit lighter next summer?! However I am extremely wary of it, so if your thinking of trying be aware of the damaging effects this could have to your hair, especially if its fine or already dry.

Have a good week my lovelies! 

sugar lips.

Its amazing what a little sugar and lip gloss can do!

The pictures above are the products of my talented friend Rhia’s photography A Level coursework, of which I had the privilege to be used as a model. To be honest, this is not what would be described as hard work; eating sugar, applying lip gloss and pouting are all routine tasks in my world!

I love the effect sugar has, especially in the last picture, completely worth ruining a cheap old lipstick for such a fantastic picture!

Mwah...

DD day.

This week was a momentous moment in any new Boots employee's life… Double Discount Day, the day on which our 11.5% on non-boots brands and 22.5% on boots own ranges discount is doubled, meaning huge savings and a chance to build up those all important Boots points. And what do points make…? Prizes!

I accumulated a huge pile of ‘must haves’ in my basket and I am a little ashamed to say I spent £70 in one go, although to reassure myself, I did buy my sister things and a few uber-early Christmas presents too! The huge basket was originally priced at £99 so there was a huge saving of £29, not so bad when you think of it like that!

I let my self go a little crazy on the makeup front, but hey its only once a year! I picked up a few of the goodies I'd been lusting after for yonks now and after acumalating a few more precious points I treated myself to Stila Smudge Pot in Kitten, which at £13 a pop isn't something I would usually spend my dosh on.

Another favourite buy was the Revlon lipstick in Smoked Peach, a beautiful beautiful dark coral, peach, warm toned colour which so perfect for autumn as darker lips become a must have.

I also picked up the much raved about John Freida Go Blonder Lightening Spray, after much wondering of what colour it will turn my dark blonde/light brown hair and I will possibly be trying out a kind of ombre effect with this if it goes well! Another purchase was the Seche Vite Top Coat, a much needed item in my life!

After all this spending rest assured there will not be any more ‘haul’ type post for a good few months (fingers crossed!) as my mother simply wont allow it!

Have a good week! ♥

dell boy.

Can you believe in this day and age that I have never actually owned a laptop and have been tapping away for the past few years on my old family computer downstairs! I've never been a huge techno geek, or particularly interested in anything that involves complicated machinery, but once I'd saved a few pennies (which is a difficult task when your a makeup obsessive!) I decided it was time to invest...

Dell Inspiron N5040

Meet 'Tup Tup', my brand new blogging device! Yes Tup Tup is its name, along with the rest of my technology family; my Samsung Tocco phone, Tocci and my Ipod, Poddle. Bizarre, I know:)

I am ridiculously excited about 'Tup Tup' and his brand new shiny screen and snazzy webcam, with built in morphing features, meaning that I can turn into a wolf/crazy person at the click of a button...

My beautiful sister trying out the morphing features!

Hopefully this new technology will mean a few more posts from me, even if I am lacking a little in the inspiration department recently!

Have a good week beautifuls!