St Patrick's Day NOTD (+ easy how-to)

Sorry that its a day late, I needed to get a tripod for my camera in order to photograph an awkward hand pose. Here is my version of a manicure inspired by St Patrick's Day.

The gold represents a pot of gold, the multi coloured glitter is supposed to resemble a rainbow and the green is *cue awkward hand pose*...

A lucky shamrock!

Here is what I used:

L.A Colors Energy Source, L.A Colors Atomic, SNB Gold 06, Saffron Gold Speckle, Technic Carnival and L.A Colors Voltage.

If you would like to recreate this look, here is how to do it:

Step 1. Paint all nails with a white base coat.
Step 2. Paint nails 1 & 3 with a green nail polish. I used 2 coats.
Step 3. Paint nails 2 & 5 with a gold colour, followed by a gold glitter.
Step 4. Paint nail 4 with a multicoloured glitter. I used about 8 coats to get it opaque.
Step 5. Finish with a clear top coat.

Please note: each coat of polish should be completely dry before doing the next coat.

Did you do a Paddy's Day mani? I would love to see your take on it.

DIY: Soap : I made my own soap! Easy tutorial in 8 steps.

I recently blogged about how to make your own soap and showed you some soapmaking kits I had come accross. well, I finally got around to actually using my kits. I made enough to fill all 3 soap moulds once. I took a few photos to show how I did it. For most of it, I used only the ingredients that came with each kit to give an idea of what results you can expect if you use the same kits. Here, I used the House of Crafts Handmade Soap Kit.

Step 1. Cut the soap into small cubes. It doesn't have to be exact, it just helps the soap to melt a bit faster. Estimate how much you will need to fill each mould and then add a tiny bit more (I ended up using roughly a quarter of the soap that came with the kit.)

Step 2. If you are going to heat it in a microwave, put it in a microwavable container. I used an Asda Smart Price jug, which only cost 35p! If you are using a saucepan, follow the instruction sheet for that method.

Step 3. Melt it! I put my soap in the microwave for 30 secs, gave it a gentle stir, then again for bursts of 15 seconds stirring inbetween each burst. You shouldn't heat it for more than 15 seconds at a time as you risk overheating your soap. Carry on until it is completely liquid.

Step 4. Use the pipette to get put some fragrance oil in your soap. I used about 14 small drops. If you use a different oil, please check that it is suitable for use on the body. Fragrance oils that you use in oil burners and candles are NOT suitable for use in soap.

Step 5. If you are adding any petals, seeds, colour or glitter (cosmetic grade) this is the time to do it. Mix it in gently. If you want each soap to look different, you can add petals or seeds to the mould and mix it after filling the mould.

If the soap sets before you have time to pour it, pop it back in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time until it is melted again. This is the beauty of working with melt and pour soap.

Step 6: Pour the soap into the mould. Cover it and leave on a flat surface until completely set. I left mine overnight before unmoulding. Notice how my soap has air bubbles? One way to get rid of this is to spray with rubbing alcohol. Unfortunately, this is not easy to get hold of in the UK. I think it adds character to the soap anyway but that is down to personal preference.

Step 7. When your soap is set, gently push it out of the mould. If it doesn't want to come out, pop it in the fridge for half an hour and try again. You should wrap the soap in cellophane or clingfilm as soon as possible.

Step 8. Run yourself a bath and enjoy your handmade soap!

Easy huh? Here are the all the soaps I made from the 3 kits I had:

I am really pleased with my results, especially for my first try. It was a lots of fun to do and I love how you can control everything that goes into them. Will you be trying this?

Haul Unboxing

I had a delivery today nice and early this morning, I was expecting one package to come yesterday as I already arranged with Royal Mail for them to deliver on that day. I waited in all day and they didn't turn up. They didn't even let me know so I was a bit annoyed by that. It finally turned up today though so all is forgiven (almost). Mini rant over, phew! 

I had 3 lovely packages today, you may notice in the photo above I kinda cheated and opened the box, I wasn't gonna include that in this post but I changed my mind.

This is a set of 4 eyebrow stencils, they were 99p including delivery from eBay.

Here they are, I know the picture is bad as the stencils are clear but they have the markings on them so you can match them up easily with the angle of your natural brows.

This is what was in the box, its loads of magnets to use with magnetic nail polish. I actually sell these on but I thought you might like to see the different styles available:

They work with any magnetic nail polish so its nice to be able to do different patterns now.

Next is the package that should of arrived yesterday..

It was very well wrapped in lots of bubble wrap.

*in Aussie accent* Can you tell what it is yet?

Ta-da! L.A Colors haul!

Left to right: 

Energy Source NP402

Atomic NP420

Exotic Pink NP434

Lightning NP422

Nuclear Energy NP417

Left to right:

Electrified NP408

Live NP409

Tropical Storm NP439

Goddess NP442

Left to right:

Treasure Island NP444

Aqua Crystals NP448

Glistening Purple NP445

Left to right:

Voltage NP401 (clear)

Sparkling Diamonds NP446

Star Light NP443

Jewel Tone NP447

Sassy Sparkle NP441 

I also got Saffron Speckle in Gold and Silver (these were the closest things to the Milani Jewel FX I could find in the UK) It will be interesting to see if they perform.

Look at the shape of the bottles though, is it just me that thinks they are a bit weird different?

This is the one I am most excited about , Technic - Carnival!

The nail polishes were from http://www.themakeupbagonline.co.uk

For all 20 nail polishes & delivery, they cost me £26.40. Not bad! 

Oh , I forgot to mention, they also threw in a free gift in the shape of 5 make-up bags:

I love the way these were packaged - a bag in a bag in a bag in a bag in a bag!

That is everything that I got so as always, I would love to hear what you think of them!

DISCLAIMER: Everything included in this post was bought and paid for by myself. Except for the bags which were a free gift for spending over £20!

MUA Glitter Ball Palette Swatches / Review

I finally got my hands on the MUA Glitter Ball eyeshadow palette from Superdrug the other day for £3, and now I'm dedicating a post to it, if I added it to the haul post, it would of been way too long!


Here are some more photos of the palette itself:

Superdrug say:

"A palette of 12 spectacular shades in a range of high impact colours that will add instant sparkle to you eyes, perfect for partywear. "

 MUA say:

"Highly-pigmented shimmer colours, ranging from green to purple, allowing you to create endless looks fit for day or night. Each of the 12 shades can be applied alone for a dramatic effect or mixed to create a personalised look." 

I did some swatches so you can see how they look on my skin.
Top Row:

Bottom Row:

Told you I was pale! Some of that is down to the flash and the metallic finish of the shadows though. Overall, I was impressed, some are more pigmented than others, and some are way glittery than others too. The more glittery a shade was, the softer it seemed to be, and there was some fallout even just while swatching so that is one thing to be aware of. However, this only cost £3 so it is an absolute steal really. I will definitely purchase again. My favourite thing about this palette is the colour combos, they are all wearable for me, unlike other palettes I have tried previously. This has the thumbs up from me!

At the moment, MUA palettes have £1 off their usual price, but only if you buy from the Superdrug website or instore. On the MUA website they are still £4.

Ooh, what's this? (parcel unboxing!)

I had a very exciting delivery today, so I decided to take photos to show the unboxing as it happened.
It is an early Mother's Day pressie for me (this year will be my first one ever!)

Well, we can see where it's from already!

Don't think I've ever seen green bubble wrap before... *pops a few bubbles*

Almost there!

Yay!! NYX Nail Polish!

NYX Pink Glitter NPS216

It seems to be lots of different textured glitters in a clear base. I can see green, yellow, pink,orange, purple, blue. The purple / blue really stands out in the light, its lovely! There is lots of fine glitter, some hexagons and some stars!

NYX Dark Glitter NPS217

It is fine red glitter, red hex glitter in a very sheer black base. It looks like a dupe for Deborah Lippman's Ruby Red Slippers.

NYX Acid Pink NPS185

Neon pink with a shimmer, I see flashes of purple and silver in it. Looks like it might be a one coat wonder.

NYX Beach Glitter NPS218

Fine holographic glitter with larger hexagons in a sheer, almost transparent blue base.

Do you like them? I know I do! I was surprised by how chunky the bottles are and the delivery was superfast. The polishes all cost me £4.50 and delivery was an extra £4.50. I think you can get these a lot cheaper in the US but not here in the UK. I would still order again though as they are worth the money, I just have to build my collection a few at a time rather than one huge spend.  I ordered from nyxcosmeticsstore.co.uk (thanks to @pinkylorren on Twitter for telling me I could order from there!)

Have you tried these polishes or something similar? I'd love to hear from you!