Tuesday 14 January 2014

Mint Convertible

NOTW Shellac no.2
No rest for the wicked..after picking a few bits and bobs up from B&M I took a mini cleaning fit and cleared out my desk, jewellery and my bathroom. I had gathered far too many bottles of shampoo and testers from the salon, my bins are now full. Anyway onto the nails. It's amazing how fast my nails grow with 'Shellac', I always file my nails right down and by the time 2weeks have passed they are like talons. So as I wore one of my new 'Shellac' colours last week I thought it was only fair for me to try the other one. 'Mint Convertible' is another colour from the spring 2014 Shellac collection, 'Open Road'. I have been dying for a mint green Shellac and when I heard one was in the spring collection I was at the shop snapping it up...Thanks Mark.

Whenever I wear a new colour I like to keep my manicure pretty simple to allow me to promote it at work and to see how it looks without too much fuss and I LOVE this one, it's definitely a winner. When 1st applied it is very pale/sheer therefore I applied 3 thin coats of colour to make it more opaque. As you may know if you have read any of my other nail posts that I can't resist a bit of sparkle, doesn't every girl? Anyway, so I decided to cover my whole thumb nail and half of my ring finger (to spice it up a little) in one of my new iridescent 'star glaze' glitters that I picked up in 'Papyrus' on sale for only £1.99 which matches perfectly with 'Mint Convertible'.
   

A short and sweet post, I hope you like my NOTW posts so far. Sorry my images are on the smaller side I not sure whats going on seem to be pixelated, has anyone else experienced this?

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Pure Spa

 Well... I finally got my well sought after massage and facial. Today I visited 'Pure Spa & Beauty' which is on the 1st floor of the Silverburn shopping centre, Mark kindly bought me a voucher from 5pm which entitled me to a radiance facial and a hot stone neck ,back and shoulder massage. Well it was amazing.
Pure Spa have won several awards one of them being UK Day Spa of 2013, using products such as Elemis and Leighton Denny.


I had never been to a spa before, so the whole experience was new to me. To begin with I was shown around then left to get into a white robe and a pair of flip-flops and then I was asked to lie and relax on a lounger until my therapist came to get me. My therapist, Lynn lead me into my treatment room which was set up beautifully, a blossom branch on the bed with a stunning african/paisely print throw over the top of the towels, soft lighting and relaxing music playing. Instead of just sitting me down and asking me questions, we sat on a stool each in a corner of the room where I was asked to place my feet into a warm bowl of water. While consulting me,Lynn massaged creams into my feet and lower legs (lucky I had shaved my legs and applied my shellac earlier) which left my feet feeling really soft and fresh, meanwhile explaining what products she was planning on using. I thought that was a nice touch and much more relaxing than a normal sit down consultation. Then I was left to get myself comfortable on the bed. The massage bed was huge and very warm and cosy. On the floor under the breathing whole was a bowl of petals drowned in scented oils to help me relax and gave the room a lovely ora. Lynn began by explaining how the hot stones would feel on my back and what they do (help to relax my muscles and remove toxins, meaning I would need to keep hydrated throughout the rest of the day). The first touch of the stones was alot hotter than I was expecting but as she worked them up my back I started to relax as they began to cool (I don't know how she was able to hold them). I knew my back was sore and tight but my goodness when Lynn began applying pressure to my naughts I then realised just how back it was.
At the beginning I wanted to shout 'ouch' but I knew that for the massage to have any benefit I had to have some deep tissue massaging techniques applied, after the 1st few moments I began to feel my tension being worked out but Lynn had her work cut out for her as I was holding lots of tension in my back. Lynn had mentioned at the beginning as I have a job were I'm either on my feet all day or working over a nail desk that I may need firmer, slightly deeper movements and so she would place the stones down and work with just her hands on certain areas. Therefore I got the best of both worlds I was able to relax and have my naughts worked out and yes it may have been sore at times but I could feel the tension release and Lynn knew exactly where to focus on eg. my shoulders and back of my neck.
Once my back massage was completed she then had me roll over onto my back ready to have my facial. There were a mixture of warm and cold creams and gels applied for my skin all of which had beautiful scents. A papaya enzyme peel was painted on and left on my face for 5 minutes which was to help soothe and brighten my complexion as I have been suffering from breakouts around my mouth and nose area. When my facial was finished my pores instantly felt tighter and my face felt much cleaner and super soft, like a babies bottom. To let me know my treatment was over there was a little chime in my ear and I was left again to relax and waken up, I could have lay there all day, I was so cosy with the heated blanket, soft lighting and soothing music. When I got out it was only then that I realised I had been in the spa for roughly around 2 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Now as it has been a few hours since my treatment I am now feeling relaxed, got me some candles lit, and tired and my muscles are a little sore in my back from being worked on but I am looking forward to waking up and having a loose back with less naughts for the 1st time in goodness knows.

My 'Pure Spa' experience was amazing, I would highly recommend treating yourself to a treatment or two. When I mentioned to a people I was going to the spa in Silverburn I could see they were unsure of a spa in a shopping centre but when you walk through the spa doors you feel as though you are in a completely different place (not in the middle of a busy shopping centre). Everything is soo peaceful and I was made to feel very comfortable, the therapists couldn't have done more, they were so kind and listened to what I had to say. Lynn didn't just go into a rehearsed neck, back and shoulder massage, she focused on the areas I felt needed some extra attention. I love to go back to the spa for another treatment maybe as a birthday present :P (hint hint ). The 5pm vouchers are a great way to try out new spas or restaurants etc for a great price and as part of my new year goals I am going to try and go for a massage once a month which will hopefully stop my back from getting into such a mess again. We need to look after our bodies, they are the only ones we get in life. Thank you Mark for my relaxing afternoon:) maybe when 'Smugpug' comes to visit we could treat ourselves to a nice afternoon.
I wasn't able to take my own photos as my phone was in my locker
Pure Spa & beauty offer various different treatments from nails to massage, for more info visit Pure Spa. This was not a sponsored post I just really enjoyed my time at the spa and wanted to sing their praise :)

Sunday 5 January 2014

I Heart Christmas


This post I suppose is a little late but I thought I would share with you some of the things I was lucky enough to get. I've seen a few bloggers do this and thought I would take a bash....hop on the bandwagon.



I won't go through everything but I'll start off with what my mum, dad, brother and sister gave me.
As I love doing nails and experimenting with them they got me a beautiful box of glitters to use with my shellac, 36 gorgeous colours and all with their own names. A lovely silver \Warm Hearts' tealight holder that my mum bought at a candle party, 'Party Lite' (you know how I love my candles atm). She also bought a white 'GloLite', 'the worlds brightest candle'. The soft textured wax glows from end to end not just at the wick which is pretty cool. I also got 2 spray moisturisers from 'Asda' by 'nspa' which make moisturising soo much easier and they don't leave you hands feeling oily or greasy. One is fresh sweet raspberry and the other is exotically creamy coconut, mmm and they smell soo good. My sister also picked my up a bright pink purse which is great as it can be easily seen in my bag and some lovely heart earring which I have been wearing ever since along with some that 'Smugpug' got me.





I warned my boyfriend not to spoil me this year but went and did his own thing. One of the things I had mentioned was a massage and he actually listened and booked me a Spa Afternoon for a facial and hot stone neck, back and shoulders massage at the 'Pure' spa in Silverburn which I am very excited about as I would like to start treating myself to a massage every month or so as I am fed up treating clients and not taking my own advice. So that is on tuesday afternoon, I will let you know how that goes.
Prior to Christmas we took a drive over to 'The Centre' where I get my 'Shellac' fix and we picked out 2 new colours from their Spring collection. A beautiful vibrant orange called 'desert poppy colour' which you can see in action here and a minty green which I have been waiting for Shellac to bring out forever called 'mint convertable' so I am excited to see what that looks like on.
Some might think this is a bad or insulting present but I had actually planned on buying it myself after Christmas as I have been breaking out pretty badly and scaring around my chin. It was the 'Murad' 'Ban Blemishes Starter Kit' , which comes with clarifying cleanser, exfoliating blemish treatment gel, a blemish spot treatment and finally a skin perfecting lotion. I will let you know how I get on.
'I Heart Christmas' was another gift which will lead on from the other 'I Heart' books I am reading at them moment. He also got me a sweet little bracelet by 'Joma Jewellery London' which you can get from a pretty little shop in Prince's Square in Glasgow called 'Illuminati', they have a collection of different ones to choose from. All come on their own card and are beautifully wrapped with a little message. Mark picked the shell pearl heart which says, 'a little LOVE  wear this shell pearl heart everyday to bring a little love your way'.
And last but definitely not least I got a rose gold 'MICHAEL KORS' watch, YEHHH. I have wanted one of these for a few years now and now I actually have one. It is gorgeous, suits me to a tee if I say so myself. As I have boney wrists I can't wear anything big and clumpy, this watch has a lovely flat face and neat bracelet style links and even has a little bit of bling around the face so simple but so classy, something I can  treasure for years to come. The funny thing was that I also bought Mark a Michael Kors so we had a laugh about that, great minds eh.

So that is it all over for another year. I had such a lovely Christmas again and I was a very lucky girl, I got lots of beautiful things some of which I can keep for years to come. I hope you had a lovely Christmas and you were all spoiled.
Thanks for reading,

Thursday 2 January 2014

Desert Poppy




As I am really wanting to focus more on my blog I thought seen as I love doing nails I thought I would do a 'Shellac' post every 2 weeks(possibly a Sunday or Tuesday) of my chosen manicure, some weeks it may be just a plain colour others there may be some fun nail art to jazz things up a little and I will go through step by step how I achieve the manicure. This would be a great way for me to have a regular featured post that will be scheduled to go live the same day every 2weeks...if that is ok?

Exciting!!! CND Shellac released their new spring 2014 collection, Shellac Takes the Open Road, pretty early this time, around christmas time which was great for me as I was able to get a few colours as gifts. There are 6 colours within this collection and after a long debate I now have two, 'Desert Poppy' & 'Mint Convertible' yehhh.

For this weeks nails well my nails for 2 weeks unless something exciting catches my eye, I have chosen to use one of my new Shellacs, 'Desert Poppy' and one of my new glitters that I got for Christmas, 'Pumpkin'.
I kept this manicure pretty simple as I had went for the crazy Christmas nails (you can see here), decorating only my ring finger with glitter and stuck a couple of gems to my thumbs. Some may say it is a rather summery colour i have went for this time but I just wanted to brighten myself up, move away from all the dark reds and purples, willing the spring to come.

Desert Poppy is a beautiful bright orange with a slight golden shimmer running through it which can only be seen when the light hits it. I applied 'Desert Poppy' as normal to all 10 nails curing them each coat. Then before top coat I added 2 small gunmetal gems to my thumbs and brushed some golden orange glitter over my ring finger so some sparkle, add a thin layer of top coat to all 10 and cure then I applied a 2nd top coat over the gems to secure them and sot them from catching. I then rubbed in some cuticle oil and voila. I also painted my toes with the same colour, I have missed my 'Shellaced' tootsies (I was just lazy before) but I don't think you want to see a picture of my feet so we will stop and the hands.
 I hope you like my new spring 'Shellac' colour :). Ps sorry my cuticles are a bit dry in the photos, it's due to cold wet weather.


Wednesday 1 January 2014

Out With the 'Auld' & In With the New


Another year has flown by and I have spent the last day of 2013 in my jimjams organising my blog for the next week. I can't believe how quick the years are going now all rolling into one but it was a good 'in.

2013 was a happy year but also a sad and stressful year but I believe everything happens for a reason. Some of my highlights were visiting my mum and dad's little house in France for the 1st time was great (you can read about our week in posts 1, 2, 3 &4), soo relaxing and we are hoping to go again only this time take Marks brother and his lovely girlfriend (who has never been abroad so that will be exciting).
Another was meeting all of Marks family in Blackpool for his beautiful cousins wedding. It was lovely to see everyone make such an effort and they all made me feel soo welcome.
I also set up my blog and please forgive me I am still learning as I go and I really want to put more effort into writing it and as cheesy as it sounds, I would like to thank everyone that follows and reads my blog, I know I not the best by far but I shopping, nails and make up and I am enjoying keeping all my thoughts in my little piece of the internet for you all to read if you wish.
I have just renewed my insurance for my car meaning I have successfully been driving for a whole year now and I am still loving my little fiat 500.

So for 2014 I would like...

  •  To keep up my blog, try harder, be more organised and blog regularly. I read Lily Melrose blog last night after writing this post and she was so inspiring to me as a new blogger and she is 100% right. Getting into the blogosphere has proven to be a little more difficult than I first thought. 2013 seemed to be the year for blogging and now a lot of people judge you on everything rather than it being for 'fun/a hobby', therefore a lot of people hold back when it comes to following or commenting on a new blog. A bit of encouragement or advice from experienced bloggers would be so helpful to let people/me know that the effort we are putting into our blogs is being noticed. I don't think my blog is in anyway the best and I don't expect it to hit 1000 followers or even 100 over night, I still have a long way to go but its good to know if I'm heading in the right direction. So yeh I chose a hard year to start but I'm going to push myself any spare time I have I want to be typing up posts instead of shopping everyday or lounging around. I sat all day yesterday writing notes and typing up posts that are now just awaiting images which I have plans to do today and then they will be ready to go and it felt so good that I was able to be so productive with my blog. So fingers crossed my blog will grow, I would love to try 'youtube' but I am a little nervous about that and I would definitely need to invest in a good camera and not steal Marks all the time, so we shall see how I get on:) ...  sorry for the rambling next. 
  • Try new things but spend less money and time out shopping. I would like to try and spend my money on things like 'Love Me Beauty Box' which is a subscription you pay monthly where you receive a beauty box with 4 or 5 different beauty products from hair, skin and make up. Some of which are tester size but a lot are FULL SIZED, amazing for £10 a month so I'm going to sign up for that in the new year. Doubt it will replace my 'Primark' shopping addiction or me popping into 'Superdrug' for a peak but it's a very easy way to try new products and learn about brands and company's that are out there.
  • I want to go on more training/course for my work eg nails. My boss will be very happy about that. I have been trying to get on a course for 'Brisa Sculpting Nails' for months now and I am going to pester 'The Centre' until I can get a date because I bought the kit months ago and it is all just sitting in my cupboard...I don't want it to be money I've wasted, which brings me onto my next point.
  • I want to spend more time reading. I try and read now and then but it tends to be blogs on my phone or computer. I want to spending less time on technology and stick my nose into a book as it takes me forever to get through one as I tend to only read during my 15min train journey so more reading at night.
  • Last but not least I want to eat and drink healthier and relax more, meaning making lunches for work, drinking more water and try to have breakfast in the morning.I need to stop bringing work home with me. I would also like to treat myself to a massage/facial once a month. (this will hopefully help with my shopping addiction). I constantly ramble on at work to my clients about how important it is to relax and look after your skin and body, I should really practice what I preach so my 1st relaxation day is going to start  next Tuesday at the 'Pure Spa' in 'Silverburn' which Mark booked me for Christmas.
And that is me.. 5 points to try and keep to over the course of 2014. I am going to work really hard at sticking to them. CHEESE coming on- I would just like to say a big thank to 'SmugPug' as she has given me alot of support over the last few months with my blog and she really helped me understand more and my boyfriend Mark as he has been a massive support to my blog as he is the one who helps me with my photographs and helps me edit so thank you to you both! <3

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year, all the best for