Weekend Antics: New Tattoo! ♥

Hey Peeps, all had a good weekend? I sure do hope so! 

Ours began with Friday night going to see Marina and the Diamonds perform at the HMV Institute in Birmingham, and I had been so excited about it all day. I had also put in my previous blog post that I was determined to see her after the show, and for her to sign somewhere on me, which I really was! We got to the venue and it was a massively long queue actually, we couldn't believe it, but her popularity appears to be ever increasing. 

Here is the make up I wore for the gig! A bright pink glittery eye with Marina's heart on my face. I had no idea the ticket was the same colour as my make up!

Here was Ed and I as we just arrived in Birmingham.

When Marina first came out singing 'Homewrecker'. She was absolutely amazing, she always sounds just like her songs and puts so much effort into performing. My  favourite was her singing 'Lies', go check it out on Youtube if you haven't heard it, it's my favourite track off the Album, Electra Heart.

This was the queue to try and see her after the gig to get things signed! It went further down to the left and right, with an immense amount of people! Everyone was squishing up to try and get a look, and it was hammering down with rain. Luckily when she did come out, we managed to squeeze up to the gates!

Sorry about the rubbish photos but it was in the dark! Her manager or something was shouting her to go and Ed and I had only just managed to get to the front, and Ed had an LP to get signed too. She turned to leave and I stuck my arm through the gates and shouted 'please can you sign my arm Marina!?' so she quickly turned round, signed me and Eds LP and she left! That's how lucky we were! So I went all ridiculously fangirly, but I was so happy I had managed to achieve what I set out to do that night.

It also made me really happy to get her autograph on me as one of my favourite artists, so off to the tattoo shop I went.

Here is what it looked like when she wrote it with a sharpie.

And here it was tattooed! It didn't hurt much at all, and I love the artistic twist on it!

The photo's probably don't do it much justice, but I love it. A memory to keep with me for life and hopefully I'll be able to show her one day! You only live once, and if that means jumping out of a plane and getting a celebs autograph tattooed on me then so be it.

Ciao for now xXx

Nails for the weekend ♥

Heylooo, hope everyone is well, and the horrible rain and floods haven't affected you too much. Depressing isn't it? We were meant to be going on holiday this Wednesday, but unfortunately we have had to cancel due to work being busy etc, so it's moved to September now. I bet it's gonna be so worth the wait!

So tonight we are going to see Marina and the Diamonds for the third time! I am super excited and I've seen she has been coming out after the gigs have ended so we are going to hang around and aim to meet her! I'd love to get her autograph on me somewhere, and may have it tattooed! Sad? Maybe, but I like to think of tattoos as building a story of your life. I think Kat Von D said it once, and it's a mantra I like to stick to so maybe I could justify it! I don't know, might not happen yet. Anywho.

I have done my nails for the weekend now, and they are actually pretty rubbish but I haven't got any nail polish remover with me so I can't redo it, oh well. I have a lilac on the nails, which took two coats (see products in last picture), and then drew a diamond with a black nail art pen, filled it in with glitter and then drew the diamond lines in. Bit of a fail, but it can just be worked out as a little diamond! Also I drew a little heart on my thumbnail as Marina always has a heart on her face, which I shall also be doing!

I don't think nail art is particularly my forte! It's the effort that counts though, isn't it?

Here are the products used. Ciate Nail Varnish in Purple Sherbet, which I absolutely love! OPI Glitter polish in Servin' Up Sparkle, and Models Own Nail art pen in Black. The Ciate Polish was free in Marie Claire and the consistency, drying time and finish are all brilliant, and I definitely think I'll be purchasing more Ciate polishes in the future!

Right, I better go and pick up 200 false nails that have just fell out their box into my handbag. Major fail. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Ciao for now XxX

Ebay Wishlist ♥

Hello! I always find myself rooting through Ebay like a virtual car boot sale, put a hundred, million things in my watch list and never buy them. Anyone do the same? So I thought I'd compile my gatherings on here, so I can keep them where I can see them and you can see them too, and let me know what you think!

I'm going to split them into clothes and accessories, and make uppy bits. Here are the clothes first, underneath I shall put links to each one so you can check prices and things if you are interested.

Star Lobe Cuff Studs | Coral Vintage Ring | Khaki Slouch Top

Nude Studded Loafers | Coloured Skull Bracelet | Tan Chelsea Boots

I love love LOVE all these items, especially the boots, they are a bargain!

34 Make Up Brushes | False Lashes | 28 Blusher Palette

Duo Lash Adhesive | Nail Gem Wheel | Bioderma Make Up Remover

Yes I still haven't got myself a bottle of Bioderma. I'd rather go to Paris and get it than buy it off Ebay for a little break! So until then, I'll keep wishing! All of the items are a good bargain and are high up in my wishlist.

Little bit of a different post, hope you liked it. Something pretty to look at anyway!

Ciao for now XxX

Update & Organising ♥

Happy Monday lovers! Can Happy and Monday be in the same sentence? Ermm...Possibly not with 5 days until the weekend.

Today is going to be a wiffly waffly post, just giving an update on what's cracking on in my world. It may be painstakingly snoring, so feel free to press that little 'X' at any time! 

Work has been pretty busy, so Ed and I haven't really seen much of each other over the last week, but we are going on holiday to Cyprus on the 5th of July for 8 days, so that will be a nice break. We return on the 13th, and then it's my birthday on the 16th! I wish it wasn't a Monday, I can't get excited for it really because everyone is at work and such, so I'll just sit in a dark corner eating cake all day. Also, on my birthday it will be the year anniversary of our engagement! I can't believe how quick it's gone, it was one of the best times of my life going up that Eiffel Tower <3. Anyway, enough of the soppies.

Another bit of exciting news, that has all come about very quickly really, is that we may be moving into a house! We found one that we really liked pretty much straight away, granted it needs working on, but it's perfectly liveable at the moment. We live in a two story flat at the moment, with no garden or anything, so it will be so lovely to be able to have BBQ's (if the sun ever comes out), parties, BOUNCY CASTLES! Exciting! So everything is in the motions at the minute, and things look hunky dory, but I'm not getting excited until the keys are in our hands. You know how it goes with house buying, it's all a bit touch and go. Fingers crossed!

Just briefly, I started organising my dressing table yesterday. As you can see, not quite done yet!

I love this dressing table, Ed got it for me when we first moved in so I absolutely love it, it's just my style! However, with the move and everything, it seemed to just get bombarded with stuff and have no actual purpose because I didn't have a stool with it. But now I do! I have been using Ed's beside table to house a lot of my make up, and I always do my make up there because the light is good, but it isn't very fair on him really! So I spent some time tidying it all up yesterday, and it's starting to take shape.

The Dressing Table/Vanity is from Ikea, as well as the wire baskets next to it which are full of skincare, nail varnishes loads more when I'm done. I sat at it this morning and it was great to have everything organised within easy reach. If you want to know where anything else was from just leave a comment and I'll be sure to let you know.

If you can see the candle at the bottom there, that was from John Lewis and is called Fairy Dust. If you have a John Lewis near by, please go and smell it. It's blummin' AMAZING! It's so sweet and fills the room with the gorgeous scent after a few minutes. 

So there's my little rambly post, Operation Wedding Dress is in Operation Fail mode at the minute too, we have been eating far too much crap. So after our holiday, it's back down to the nitty gritty! 

Ciao for now! XxX

Thursday Thoughties - No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara ♥

Hey Guys, time for Thursday Thoughties again, and today it's going to be on the No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara, bit of a mouthful! It claims to be nutrient enriched, so all good and healthy for my little lashlets!

It is priced at around £13.00 I believe, but I had a nifty No7 voucher from Boots, because when you spend over a fiver you get a fiver No7 voucher, which is fab.

I was in need of a new mascara so I thought I might as well spend the voucher and get a No7 one, as I haven't tried any of their mascaras. I usually go for a volumising mascara with a thick-ish bristly brush, you know the ones, but this is pretty much the exact opposite.

I love the sparkly jade green packaging, I think it makes it look quite luxurious and reminds me somewhat of Harrods! 

The brush itself is a plastic bristle brush, with three different lengths on it. The aim of this mascara is to maximise the amount of lashes and not the volume particularly, so I did have to keep this in mind as I'm not used to that. There are teeny tiny bristles one side, to get right into those lashes you couldn't usually reach. Then the two longer ones help to elongate the littluns, and extend the biguns! 

It actually does a really good job, and does give me loads more lashes than what I usually have, with certainly no clumps. I do sometimes feel though that the plastic brush doesn't always pick up a lot of the product, meaning continuously dipping back in the tube, but I can live with that. 

Scary eye picture time... Sorry for the rubbish quality I haven't got my camera with me, but you can just about see that it picks up a lot of lashes! It's also not a 'wet' mascara if you know what I mean, like if you were to sneeze when applying it (how irritating is it when that happens?), it wouldn't really cover your eye in it all because it dries pretty quickly.

Overall I do really like the mascara, but tend to use it first to catch individual lashes, and then use volumising mascara afterwards for more of a flare. 

Keep your eyes peeled as I'm going to do my first giveaway with this mascara soon if you are interested in trying it. Everyone loves a freebie!

Rating out of 5: *****

Ciao for now XxX

BeDazzled: A Deep Peacock Smokey Eye Tutorial ♥

Oh Hai! Today I'm finally going to do my first make up tutorial kind of post. I have wanted to do one for ages but I never seem to have the time! However, Ed and I went out for a meal on a whim last night, so I only had about 15-20 minutes to get ready, which shows how quickly this look can be done. At the time, because I am a donut, I didn't realise I was going to turn it into a tutorial so I haven't taken step by step photos fail, but, there are only three main colours too it and it isn't too difficult so I Shall explain step by step.

Here is a piccy wiccy of the finished look.

It was inspired by a teal and purple top I wore that night, so I continued the look right up to my eyeballs, 'cuz that's how I roll. So to begin, aside from your usual foundation routine and blush/bronzer/setting routine, I'm only really 'tutorialing' (what a great word I have just made up, somebody call Oxford) the eye look here. Firstly you will need the MUA Palette in Undressed, using the shade 12 (see red arrow). This is a gorgeous grey shimmery colour, with a very slight blue undertone, a great starter for our smokey look!

You will also need the Poptastic Palette by MUA, using shade 1 and shade 7, which will give our Deep Peacock look it's pop of colour.

Other friends we will need in this tutorial are:

Any Eye Primer (I use a plain cheap lipbalm, it's amazeballs!), Nyx chubby eyestick in Cottage Cheese, MAC fluidline in Blacktrack, a couple of shadow/blending brushes (these are rubbishy old ones, but still do the trick), black kohl eyeliner - mine is by Peggy Sage but MUA do a great black for £1.00 which is in waiting for when I have finished this one, No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara, Maybelline Falsies Mascara, Fine Liner Brush, Urban Decay flat shader brush from Naked 1 palette. 

Obviously all the products here are optional, and can be adapted to something you have got at home!

Let's get to it!

Step 1: Prime the lids with your choice of primer, this will make the colour last and pop.

Step 2: Take a shadow brush, and shade 12 from the Undressed palette, and pack it all over the lids. (Don't worry about being too neat here).

Step 3: Take a clean blending shadow brush, and blend out the edges, so there are no harsh lines. Blend it up to just past the crease of your eye, but don't wing this grey shade out to the side very much.

Step 4: Take the turquoise shade 7 from the Poptastic palette, but don't load the brush heavily as this will put too much onto the eye. The key to this look is graduate and blend blend BLEND! Put this colour on the outer corner and above the crease. Keep dipping the brush in the palette and blending it out until there is a bold colour, but a soft gradient outwards. You can also wing this out towards the last point of your brow.

Step 5: Take the purple shade 1 from the Poptastic Palette, and take that over the grey beginning at the inner corner, towards the middle of the eyelid - but leaving a little of the grey colour still showing in the middle. Take a clean blending brush, and continuously blend until you are happy that it's smokiiinnnn'! With the flat shader brush, bring a little of the grey under the eye, the purple on the lower inner corner and the green on the outer, and blend out. This really makes a difference to a smokey eye.

Step 6: For added definition add a light shimmer highlight colour to beneath the brow bone, this also gives the edges of the gradient something to blend into to complete the look. I used a random off white shimmer colour from a palette I had in Cyprus, but any will do! Also, take the Nyx Jumbo stick in Cottage cheese, and pop some in the Inner Corners. Light will hit this and give the illusion of widened eyes.

Step 7: Take some gel liner, or whatever you are comfortable with using, and line close to the lashes with a fine brush. I haven't winged mine out, as it may be too much, but if you want to go on all out there, feel free! Bring what's left on the brush close to the lower lashes for subtle definition. Take a kohl pencil, and line the waterline.

Step 8: Use your favourite mascara to create volume and flare to the lashes. I use the No7 Definition mascara to give me the look of more lashes with no clumps, and then Maybelline Falsies Flared to add length and volume. You can also add false lashes here, I just didn't have time!

Step 9: Finish the rest of your usual make up, adding a subtle lipgloss or nude lipstick. I used MUA love hearts lip balm in 'Sugar Lip's', as with such a heavy eye you don't want a garish colour to clash with it. The lip balm just give's a nice gloss, and a nice finish to the look.

And you are done! A lot of reading I know, but at least it's always here if you fancy having a go. Let me know what you think of the look! What are your favourite eye looks at the moment? Do you love the MUA palettes? I do!

Here are a couple of pictures of the finished look!

 I'm not as moody as I look here, honest! Haha!

Ciao For now! xXx

Acrylic Storage ♥

Mornin' all! Even though it's afternoon...

I thought I should share with you today, all about acrylic storage for all your make uppy things. I've seen a lot of Bloggers and Youtubers have acrylic storage, and I've been like hmmm do I or don't I, because it ain't cheap you know guys, and I'm all for the cheap!

However, I went to the Muji store in Birmingham for the first ever time over the last weekend, and I was amazingly surprised at what they have in there! It's the oddest shop really, and sells the randomest of items, but I really liked it.They have got layers upon layers of acrylic storage, and I have walked past that shop a hundred times without noticing it. So I thought I would just get two pieces to start with, see how I like it, as they are priced at around £7.95 each.

I got one that I guess is like a pen holder, with four upright compartments, and two low longer ones. I also got a single story wide drawer. They also do this drawer with a flip top lid but they are slightly more pricey. They are the same width so they fit on top of each other nicely, and they also have thin rubber grippers on the bottom so they are easy to stack. These are more or less to hold everything I use day to day, but I absolutely love being able to see my stuff, and that it's all nicely organised ready to pick out what I want.

Birds eye view! I really recommend this as a way of storage if you are stuck, I feel so much better just organising this little amount into the acrylic storage and I definitely am going to begin to collect it so I can organise my whole collection. If you fancy a gander at Muji, take a look HERE.

And just a little picture of my Peanut to finish the post. She's all tired out after a long day of chewing hay. <3

Ciao for now XxX