Sunday 29 December 2013

My Little Grotto


Hello again, as I said I am going to keep trying to blog as much as possible and seen as I've got a few more days off I thought I would get the posts up that I was meant to post before Christmas. These are just little ideas of how I decorated my room and marks:P for the festive period without breaking the bank...a few ideas you could maybe use for next year and grab a few bits in the sales.

This year I didn't want a tree for my room (didn't really see any that caught my eye) so I bought these little glass tree with multicoloured bobbles that hang from them. the come both in clear glass or green my mum went for the green so I opted for the clear which fit in lovely with my bedroom decor. 'Watt Brothers' £7.99 for larger tree & £4.99 for smaller.

I LOVE fairy lights at the moment so when I made my weekly visit to 'B&M' I picked myself up a few sets with small pearls attached and popped one set inside a large round vase with my little Christmas pudding bobbles to dress it up and the other set along my window ledge weaving in and out of my candles. Lights £3.99 and pack of 3 christmas pudding bobbles 99p (I got 2 packs), round vase £2.99 all from 'B&M'.

While we were at 'Ikea' we spotted cute lanterns and having a set of fairy lights to put somewhere I decided to put some glitter miniature bobbles into the lantern with the tiny fairy lights. Mark loved mine so much he then copied me :P  Lantern £2 'Ikea', bobbles £2.99 'B&M', tiny fairy lights £1.50 'Primark'.
My lantern 
Marks lantern (bobbles from Ikea)
Another obsession of mine the now is candles, I use to hate when people bought me them but now I have loads so I treated myself (as if I never buy myself anything) to some Christmassy ones from 'Primark'. Little santa £1.50 and Glitter candles £2.50, cheap as chips...so I bought two of each.
red candle from Ikea pack of 36 scented candles for £3.75 they smell amazing!!
As Mark was feeling a little less festive than me this year he decided to perk himself up by buying a mini tree for his own room from 'Next' £22 lights inc. With his left over red bobbles from 'Ikea' we decorated it together and wrapped another set of the tiny 'Primark' lights around it ....aww how cute. (I love that Mark is now warming to 'Primark' haha).
These teeni tiny beautiful, glass Christmas bobbles are from 'Paperchase' £10, Marks new favourite shop. It sells a little bit of everything and even has a small cafe up the stairs, kind of like a fancier WHSmiths. I love just sitting looking a the different colours and designs on the bobbles. Sadly with Mark being very lazy and unorganised he didn't actually put them anywhere but I reckon these would look lovely all year round in a  round or tall vase mixed with little fairy lights but we shall see.

Last but definitely not least meet Patrick the penguin, Mark also bought one, Penelope (well was forced into it:P). I seriously could not resist these little polystyrene balls for £6.99 you can't complain they will live forever.
B&M £6.99
Oh and these were our take on homemade 'real orange chocolate orange' we found on one of "Zoella's' youtube videos (love her videos oh and I have serious hair envy you can see her step by step here) and thought they looked yummy so we took a messy bash at it...oh it was soo good but very messy.

Saturday 28 December 2013

Take Christmas Into Your Own Hands. Crimbo Nails

Hi Everyone!!! Long time no speak I am extremely sorry that I have been super lazy, I'm not going to lie I haven't been very committed lately to my blog but New year on its way I am going to be strict with myself to try and blog at least once a week. I mean there are thousands of great bloggers out there and if you can all do it then what is stopping me.
Anyways I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and spoiled yourselves at the sales. :)


I know I am a little late I was planning this to go up on Christmas Eve but it didn't all go to plan so here we are today in my new jimjams, my 'Murad blemish control cream on and my cosy santa jumper.

I know I have done a few posts on Shellac in the past (you can read them here 1, 2 &3) But I have never done nail art like this before...these were my festive nails. I have never took nail art this extreme before but I thought 'hey it's Christmas if you can't do it now when can you?' So on my day off the week before Christmas I decided to go all out and use my Shellac to create some really festive nails which went down a treat at the salon, some of the clients were brave enough to go for a wee bit of holly on one nail or little tree. Thank goodness I didn't sit for 3hours doing my nails for nothing as they were the talk of the salon...yehh!!

So here are 10 different festive designs for your nails you could maybe take a bash at for next year I just came up wight the ideas on the spot and my white ran out half way through so I appologise for my fat santa face. Due to me melting one of my thumbs with spilt hot chocolate on a hot hob and to running out of Cream puff in my pictures I always have one thumb missing sorry about that.
All of these designs were done by myself using 'CND Shellac' products and dotting tools.

From left to right as seen in photo.

Pinky - Snowman, 'Midnight Swim' background and 'Cream Puff' done with 2 different sized dotting tools to create the snowman and then detailing done with 'Black Pool' & 'Tropix'.So starting from the

Ring Finger - Rudolf, background done in 'Rubble' and detailing done with 'Cream Puff''Black Pool' and 'Ruby Ritz' for the red nose.

Middle - Dotted Tree, 'Scarlet Letter' as the background (which was probably a bit dark) and then with different sized dotting tools again I created a triangle from dots using 'Serene Green' and glitter with a gold glitter at the top acting as the star.
Index Finger - Little Penguin (aww), I wanted to make it a little different from a black and white penguin so I used 'Azure Wish' as the main colour and layered 'Cream Puff' over it creating a pale cool blue for its tummy. Then using 'Tropix' I added the feet and beak and used the same as before for the eyes.

Thumb, everyone's favourite - Christmas Pudding. I did this one a day later as my white was just too old to use any further. i used 'Rubble' as the cake colour then drew the dripping cream on with a new 'Cream Puff' then using a small dotting tool I then dotted on the raisins with 'Fedora' and
'RubyRitz' and 'Hotski Tchotchke' for the holly.
Left Thumb - Christmas Tree, 'Serene Green' as my base and then I made a triangle from tip to cuticle with 'Gold' Additive, giving the effect of a gold tree with a little red star gem on top. Simple but very effective. (sorry I don't have a close up of this one as I melted it while cleaning a hot hob).

Index Finger - Santa, 'Beau' for the base (santa's skin) then I drew a semi circle with 'Wildfire' for the hat. I then added 'Cream Puff' with a dotting tool for the fur around his hat and beard and dotted 2 small 'Black Pool' dots for the eyes. Then I sprinkled some iridescent glitter over the 'Cream Puff'.

Middle Finger - Holly, I layered 'Romantique' & 'Moonlight & Roses' for the background to which I then stuck 3 small circular gems at an ankle and then used 'irresistible' green jagged glitter which gave the holly more of a 3D effect. This design was the most popular with the clients...not too crazy for them.

Ring Finger - a Snowflake done in 'Blue Rapture' as background colour with 'Cream Puff' & 'Azure Wish' layered for the actual snowflake. I then dotted on some iridescent glitter.
Pinky - a little Fat Robin done in (first of all it was 'Dark Lava' but was too dark) so opted for 'Rubble' with 'Ruby Ritz' (limited addition colour for Christmas)for his red tummy,  'Cream Puff' and 'Black Pool' for the detailing of eyes and feet.

Here are some of the clients nail art which is also really nice just on  one nail. (All done by me at 'Belle and Blackley' ).



I hope you liked my nail art. Did you get adventurous with your nails this Christmas?

Sunday 10 November 2013

Practical Primark ...OOTD

Waw I am doing great 2 posts in the one night, 3 in the same week. Although I have been busy out and about I wanted to make sure I got some good photographs and spend a little time editing them.
So here is my OOTD I wore for Mark and I's day out. As I stayed at Marks the night before and hadn't planned to be squelching around in mud I didn't really pack for a muddy occasion but it worked none the less.





Most of my outfit is from one of my favourite shops 'Primark'. My fluffy lined parka was a great buy last year at £25. It's not overly heavy that it's too much of a squeeze for a chunky jumper but cosy enough on its own. I love the hood, it's HUGE, lined with fur and also had a thick fur around the edge of the hood. It has plenty of pockets which was great as I didn't need to worry about carrying my bag, my phone, keys and my trusty lip balm slotted right into my larger pockets. Although you won't be able to purchase this exact one there are plenty of new styled parka's in 'Primark' this year and all look very comfy and cosy, if mines wasn't still in good condition I'd treat myself to a new one:)

My red floral print shirt is also a 'Primark' buy just a few months ago although I think I paid something like £10 for mine and now it is reduced to a fiver!! Very jealous, the thing with 'Primark' is if you can hang off for a couple of weeks you may find what your looking for on one of the reduced hangers but if your like me then you'll want everything then and there.
I liked this shirt as it doesn't drown me, I find a lot of bat winged shirts can look massive on me. This one is almost a crop but not quite. I don't know if thats because I'm a shorty or if its an inbetweeny.
It also came with a cute little collar chain with pearls but I had taken it off for the wash and forgot to clip it back on but the sweet pearl buttons are enough on certain occasions. I think I would have definitely been getting some strange looks, out on a muddy walk with my pearls heehee.

A pleather skirt is something every girl should have in their wardrobe. It can be so easily dressed up or down depending on your shoes and top. Again this one is from 'Primark' and I think I paid £8 for it a few months back. I wish now that i waited and got one that had a leather waist band instead of shown the elastic but I suppose it's easily hidden with a belt of some sort. This is very practical for me as i can be a little clumsy sometimes and if I spill anything down this skirt it can be quickly wiped away.

Last but not least my tartan scarf.  I actually bought this one earlier this year when the scarfs 1st came out for £4 and is right on trend at the moment. Its not a wooly scarf but is a good size and still keeps me warm which I'm happy with and it mean i can wear it as an accessory without it looking as though I should have hung it up with my coat before sitting down. 'Primark' have many different colours and styles I actually went back in the other day and bought a cream coloured woollen one which is super cosy and was only £5.

 My boots were from Republic but I got them way back in March in their sale and I'm so glad I let Mark talk me into buying them, they are soo comfy and versatile great buy.






Did you know there is a Waterfall in Glasgow?

I had a few days off this week so Mark googled things to do in Glasgow and Rouken Glen Park popped up where there is a waterfall. We had no clue there was a waterfall in Glasgow and were excited to go and see it. Not the best of days to go but we went anyways. So after a little wonder around the west end gift shops we took a drive over ( how cute are these little fairy lights).
 It wasn't the best of weather and when your wearing ankle boots with a small chunky heel it just made the ground that little bit more slippery. Although everything was muddy, slippery and wet it was beautiful, so much to look at & see, ruins of old buildings, bridges, natures wildlife and the fallen autumn leaves added so much colour to the ground to it all.

It probably took up about an hour to walk around stopping every couple of minutes to take a photo of our surrounding. Once we reached the waterfall the park seemed so much more colder and noisier with the crashing of the water on the rocks.
Mt next post will be my OOTD that I wore here.


Here are some of our favourite pictures...

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Images with ** are all taken and edited by Mark McGrory


Friday 8 November 2013

Lets Play Dress Up

Now I know halloween was last week but better late than never so I thought I would show you some of the make up I done on the girls in work. We aren't usually allowed to dress up but seen as the boss man wasn't in until the afternoon we thought we'd take advantage and have some fun. So here is some of my work hope you enjoy.


1st go all there was Julie and she wanted her eye the main feature so we opted for a cob web coming from her eye to her forehead and she really suited it.


I used a kohl black eyeliner pencil and simply drew out my cobweb from the corner of her eye up trying to keep a steady hand. Once I had done that I then went back in and tidied up my lines with a wipe and then highlighted with a white liner pencil.  To add a little more I decided to draw a small spider hanging from the web and sprinkled some black iridescent glitter over it.

Next was Kerry...our broken doll.


For this look I drew a large crack on kerry's cheek and coloured it in with the same kohl black pencil and then drew some smaller, thinner cracks around it. I darkened her eyebrow and shaded the crease of her eye with some grey shadow and made her eye appear wider by adding 2 different sets of lashes a more natural one on her upper lashes and then a longer, thicker set for the bottom, which I stuck on down by her lower eye socket and coloured the space between her bottom lashes and falses white.  To finish this look off I added some brown freckles and a red lip. Julie then went on and curled the side of her hair to match the doll make up and kept the opposite side straight.

Stefania with her Cat Eye....
 
This was a very different make up from what I have ever done. I made this cat by drawing her eyebrow in black and curving it a little more bringing it right around to her upper eyelid. I then managed to draw the cats head and paw (not the best but with the time I had it was my best attempt). The purple line is a ball of wool which the cat is playing with essentially. To complete the cat I added 2 small green gems to make the eyes which I think really makes it pop.  (sorry for any smudging, the photos were taken a little bit after the make up as I didn't have time in-between).

The Devil which is Eileen.

Eileen didn't want her whole face painted red and by the time she arrived in the salon it was starting to get a little busy so we went for a baby devil. Devil horns coming out the brow and tail extending for her liner. I painted this on using aqua face paint and outlined it all in a 'Maybelline' gel liner, again tidied up my lines using a face wipe and then added a bit more vibrancy using a fuchsia pink shadow in the crease of her eye. and finished with a scarlet red lip. A little bit different I thought.

Charlie wasn't sure what she wanted done but didn't want something scary so a butterfly wing was what she opted for, something bright and colourful. 

Yes halloween is meant to be scary but there's nothing stopping you from being girly and cute. This make up was more of a face paint done with 'Sleek' eyeshadows which were great as they gave the butterfly wing a more metallic appears. Again I outlined the wing with 'Maybelline' gel liner which I drew on 1st and then applied the shadow and then went over the liner again once I was happy with the shape. To finish it off we added some gold gems that I stuck on using eyelash glue, footery but definitely were needed to give the wing more depth. I forgot to take a picture of Charlie's hair but I made it look like a flower by tying it up in a png and then sectioning it off into 4 parts then back-combed and rolled each section in(2 at the top and 2 at the bottom) to give a flower shape. 

My final make up to do was Catherine who is VERY easy going and seen as I had some time to kill before my next client we went all out. Vampy Cathy. 
 
She was great, totally loved being a vampire and no one could take her seriously. People would forget she had her face painted and turn round to ask her something and get the fright of they lives. I simply sponged on aqua white face paint and buffed it out. Then I applied some dark purple & pink shadow all around her eyes (it was darker but picture doesn't show it as well). Darkened her brows and contoured her temples and cheekbones. Finally I painted red aqua onto her lips and smudged it out off her lip-line on one side and then let some run down her chin as blood dripping from her mouth. I also painted a small bite scar on the side of her neck from when she was changed. Julie then went onto do her hair. Catherine's hair is a grown out bob so sits just under her chin maybe a tad bit longer and Julie back-combed it within a inch of its life to get it as high as possible and then of course every girl needs a little glitter spray in the hair.

And last but not least there's me...Claire the Cat well the wild cat. 
 
         

   
I did my own make up and wasn't quite sure what to do. one client had called that week looking for a leopard print make up and so I decided to steal her idea but kept it simple by just applying the print around one eye (time being tight and there only being one make up artist).
I applied 'New C.I.D.' shadow all around one eye from my forehead to my cheek. I then took a darker brow shadow and brushed on random shaped spots and outline them in gel liner. I f they are all different shaped you get a much better effect. I then done some cat eye liner with the same gel and defined my eyebrow. To top it off I stuck some bronze/gold glitter again with eyelash glue which btw is a pain to get off your skin onto some on my leopard spots to make them stand out a little more. A nude lip and a little bronzer all round and done. 

I then asked Julie to roll my ponytail into a bow shape (which she had never done before and for her 1st attempt she done great). After explaining it to her she had it up and pinned in within 5 minutes and it was high enough that the top of the bow could be seen from the front and acted as my cat ears.The clients loved it and it definitely completed my look.


here we all are in character.

Which make up is your favourite?
Did you mess around with any halloween looks this year?