Pre-emptive Spring time

So pretty much everyone in the UK is currently getting pissed off at our dismal weather, even me and I usually love winter! But there's too much of a good thing and now I'm bored of being cold and wet and walking through mud and there being no spring flowers! 

Anyway I tried to cheer myself up by dressing in my most Spring-ish outfit and then Claire and I went to Westfields and I ate too much food.

 

  

Milkshake in Butlers Chocolate Cafe (my home from home)

  

I got photobombed eating my lunch!

Here's a close up of my necklace which is amazing: 

 

Wearing:

Dress: Bernie Dexter

Tights: Asos

Shoes: Clarks

Necklace: Les Nereides

Makeup:

Face: Illamasqua Skin Base foundation in 01, Sleek blush by 3 Pumpkin in Squash

Eyes: MUA Heaven and Earth Palette, Sugarpill eyeshadow in Mochi, Illamasqua Precision Ink in Abyss, Illamasqua Medium pencil in Vow, Black mascara

Lips: OCC Lip Tar in Narcissus

I absolutely love my dress, the print is amazing, it fitted beautifully and I loved that it showed up my super sloping shoulders. The company, Bernie Dexter has a bunch of absolutely beautiful clothes. Unfortunately they've just gone and discontinued all plus sizes. No idea why, they just decided not to make them anymore. So obviously I won't be giving them any more of my fat money! >:(

Google Reader thingamybob

So you may have seen that google has decided to get rid of it's 'google reader' service. I am a bad bad blogger and don't fully understand what this means so I direct you to these posts which explain it better than I ever could.

Something I am genuinely baffled by is that I honestly don't know if I use google reader! To read the blogs I follow I just log into blogger and then the blogs are all listed there. Is that google reader? 

Sorry I'm a moron.

Barry M Textured Nail Effects Nail Paints

Hi! Today you get a look at my terrible stubby fingernails. I've been trying out these new Textured Nail Effects polishes by Barry M and I really like 'em!

 

These are pastel coloured polishes with a special gritty effect. The pink is called Kingsland Road, the yellow Station Road, the green Ridley Road and the blue is Atlantic Road.

They retail for £3.99 each but I picked them up at 2 for £6 from Superdrug (at the same time they were at 3 for 2 in Boots which would have saved me about 3p :P If you shop around you can usually find a deal on Barry M somewhere)

Now have a look at them and please ignore my poor ravaged cuticles. I've posted lots of photos to try and show the textured effects.

  

I don't know if you can see in the pictures but the yellow has a slight shimmer to it, the others are matte.

The effect is very easy to apply, you just paint it on like any polish and the grit gets more pronounced as it dries. Applying it really feels no different from a regular polish either. These photos all show 2 coats of polish over a base coat (they were all nearly opaque in 1 but the extra coat made the grit more defined as well as making it completely opaque). Oddly I found that, though the bottle specifies to use one, the effect is much more pronounced if you don't use a base coat so in the future I probably won't bother with one. I've heard some people say these are a nightmare to remove but I didn't have a problem at all, it's much easier than glitter!

The feeling of these on the nails is an acquired taste. At first I felt really creeped out touching them but then I got a bit obsessed with it! It doesn't feel too gritty, just sort of bumpy, and luckilly they didn't catch on my tights at all. These lasted about 4-5 days before the started chipping, which was pretty good considering you can't really use top coat on them. Oddly the different colours had different rates of chipping, the yellow was the first to go, then green, then blue and finally pink.

Anyway I really like these. I love the easter-egg colours and the gritty texture takes them away from being too pastel and ice-creamy. £3.99 is a good price for a polish but like I said shop around. If you like the effect but are interested in other colours then in the US Milani have just released some (see swatches here at Nouveau Cheap) or Nails Inc have a few but they are much more expensive (still might get the pretty grey one though). What do you think?

Ich Liebe Dich

For Valentines Day I was given a necklace I've wanted for ages, this gigantic Tatty Devine Gingerbread heart. I'm a very lucky girl and wearing it felt like a Bavarian Flava Flav.

Wearing:

Necklace: Tatty Devine

Dress: Topshop

Tights: Can't remember, been in my room for ages

Boots: Old Doctor Martens (They're falling apart. I need a new pair!)

Claire said I looked kind of punky which was not what I planned but oh well. Takes me back to my teenage years.

My huge necklace isn't available anymore but there  is this smaller version here :)

Face: Homemade Conjurers Cosmetics powder foundation, No 7 Ballerina Beauty blush

Eyes: No7 stay precise eyeliner, some colours from the MUA Heaven and Earth palette, black mascara

Lips: Mac Strong Woman lipstick