Initial thoughts on DIY gel nails

 
 

I've always paid to have my nails done professionally either with gel or acrylics, probably paying around £20 every 3 weeks. So recently I decided to invest in some products that I think in the long term will save money....but also gives me an excuse to shop!!

 

I decided to try gel products rather than acrylics to protect my nails and essentially allow them to grow. I do tend to pick my nails and gel stops me from doing that.

 

SensatioNail, from what I've read, is a well established brand so I decided to try one of their starter kits.  Deluxe Pink Chiffon SensatioNail Starter Kit was £105 before Christmas but it is now £70 on the official website. In the set you have everything you need to get you started! However you do need to purchase separately a product to soak off the gel.

My thoughts so far......

I'm so used to nail varnish, the first time I applied the gel I put it on too thick and it chipped within a couple of days. Each layer needs to be applied thinly; initially I thought this would effect the impact of the colour but as long as you apply one coat, cure, then apply another coat of the colour it won't. Also make sure you seal the free edge as again I didn't and they chipped. Its all trial and error. I have watched many youtube tutorials and I'm getting the hang of it!

 

Its great if you enjoy doing your own and experimenting! I've spent around £100 on gel products, equivalent to five trips to a salon so it really is worth it.

 

I've also ordered some Harmony Gelish products which I'll blog about when they arrive!!

 

Allure magnetic gel polish from SensatioNail

 

 

Any recommendations or comments are welcome!!! 

 

BNTB x x

The Naked Palette 3!!!!!!

 

 

 

The Naked Palette 3!!

Urban Decay

 

So I'm a little behind with this..I know its been out a while now. I have to say I'm really liking the third palette. I LOVE shimmery eye shadows and there's definitely enough shimmer in here. There are twelve rose-hued eye shadows in this palette, and a good mixture of shimmer and matte. 

 

The packaging is great for travel, clasps tightly and in my opinion looks good.

 

 

Unlike the naked palette 1 and 2 this one has 12 pink toned eye shadows, instead of the warm toned neutrals in the first two.

I especially LOVE the shimmery ones...a sucker for the shimmer!!

The eye shadows are to a high quality and you will definitely be able to make a variety of looks with them. I particularly love the look of Buzz and Dust together.

 

 

BNTB x x

 

 

My pooches

 

 

 

 

 It wouldn't be right if I didn't mention my doggies in a blog post. They're my babies! I have three..the plan was to have two. However after a year of having two I managed to convince my husband that we needed a third. I may have got him drunk and then broached the subject! So here they are, my three pooches.

 

Charlie the Cavottish

Hes a Cavalier crossed with a Scottish terrier. When he was a puppy he was so naughty. Clearly the terrier in him. He was so snappy but within about nine months he had calmed down!

 

 

 

Yes I'm wearing a poodle onesie in the below photo. It was a nightmare to find one apparently..it was a Christmas present and was on Ebay. Originally from Primark but they don't have them in stock now as far I know.

 

Lola the Cavapoo

She is a Cavalier crossed with a Miniature poodle. We failed to research the term "miniature" when deciding on a third pooch, thinking she would be small but she's actually classed as medium sized. However we wouldn't have her any other way..she's great..if not a tad looney!!

 

 

Millie The Cavalier....no cross this time!

She is so cute and little. At times I've thought maybe she is a cross as she isn't a standard size cavalier. Come to think of it there was a Chiauau puppy hanging around when we picked her up lol. But anyway she is a tri-coloured Cavalier, hates birds and loves being clingy.

 

 

My three pooches in a nut shell.

 

BNTB x x

Got to love Ikea!

 



When I mentioned to Khila...miss budget beauty that I was in need of a...I can't decide on the name..dressing room? Make up room? Well anyway she took on the challenge without my needing to ask! Ha. Having been to Ikea on a Sunday morning, she was at mine and had made over my spare room by 1pm! The photo opposite shows the table and stool Khila purchased from Ikea. I also love having my wedding dress on show. It was just laying around without a home!

The opposite photo is classed as a candle holder on the Ikea website but can easily be used as a holder for make up supplies. Khila put coffee beans in them and brushes can then quite easily stand upright....plus if you love coffee like I do you have that lovely aroma in your room. These are just £1.25 each from Ikea. I have others that I use to store nail files etc in, they look really pretty!!

Having an organised room now I couldn't resist taking a visit to Ikea and purchasing a couple of the white storage cubes. You can get different sized ones. This one is a four cube storage unit and it was £40. You can have doors put on them but I prefer without. They're great for storage and the top surface looks great with decoration or perfumes.
All the bits in the cube opposite are from Ikea. The white decorations are both classed as candle holders. The top one named SKURAR is £6 and the other named ROTERA is £2.
You can also purchase the storage baskets. I've put hair products in one and handbags in the other.



All my nail products arranged in one of the cubes opposite....check me out with the organisation!!

BNTB x x



http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S99001010/#/S39001013

My attempts to volumize my thin hair!

 

 

 

I have such fine hair and I'm forever on the look out for products to give it a bit of volume. I, at times, will attempt to backcomb my hair to give it some volume before a night out but it can be a pain to do and I worry that I may be damaging my already thin hair.  

 

The below is a photo of my hair after my usual blow drying routine.

 

 Before....

 

 

I recently came across a product by Umberto Giannini and I have to say I was very impressed. It claims to give volume and "sexy texture" without damaging your hair with backcombing. I'm always sceptical that such products work but I'm open to try anything! 

 

 

Its really easy to use. Simply spray 6inches to where you want the backcomb effect and then jujj hair into shape. After doing this through my hair it felt thicker and more textured and it only took a few minutes to do. It could also be used for up dos and does the job without damaging your hair back combing.

 

After....

 

 

 

 

Any comments or recommendations on what works for you are welcome!

 

 

 

 

You can purchase this from Boots for £5.61

 

The product http://www.boots.com/en/Umberto-Giannini-Glam-Hair-Backcomb-In-A-Bottle_1104342/

 

BNTB x x

 

 

 

Kate Spade Purse!!!

 

 

I have to say that until June this year I hadn't actually heard of Kate Spade..shocking I know...how had I functioned beforehand?! I was in The Westfield Mall London with missbudgetbeauty and lauralovesbeauty when Khila made us go in. It was love at first sight, I have to say. I adore the colours....some of them are so bold and bright.

So anyway I looked at the prices and thought eek a bit pricey for me.

 

Now a few months later it was becoming obvious that my much loved Radley purse was on its last legs....I've had it a  few years..maybe more and it was about time I "invested" in a new one. Should I go for something reasonably priced but what is reasonably priced really...if you want it to last you have to spend a bit surely lol. I then saw someone had put a Kate Spade purse on Instagram.....it was so very pretty. Bright pink and I knew that spending that bit more would be worth it. What's a few nights out..I can spend it in with my purse LOL.

 

So the next time I went to London...I think there are only a couple of Kate Spade shops in England, I couldn't resist...it would be rude not to right?! I was going to go for pink and a smaller one but when I saw this, which is close to a tiffany blue colour... LOVE....it made my mind up for me. 

 

 

 

 I've had it about a month now and I've managed to keep it pristine despite it being such a light colour; Although I have to confess that I'm obsessed with keeping it clean lol....holding up queues to put it carefully back into my bag etc!

 

 

 The zip actually has a little spade on it which is nice attention to detail and the big black spots inside make it cool and quirky. One negative I would have is that you need to make sure that you remember to close the coin central compartment before you close the purse, as it can then be difficult to open the purse again if this part is open.

Initially I found it quite difficult to take my cards out of it as they're close to the edge of the purse but now I'm used to it isn't an issue.

 

So to summarise this is a fab purse and for me is worth the money. I know I'll make good use of it and its such great quality.

 

 

This purse costs £145 and was available in the Covent Garden store in December 13. There isn't a UK website as yet but the very passionate consultant in store mentioned that there will be one possibly from January!!!! Exciting.

 

BNTB x x 

Yay!! I got a laptop for Christmas...well I say Christmas....I was going to get surprises but I suddenly decided at the beginning of December that in order to blog properly I really needed a laptop. Don't get me wrong, I love my Ipad but you cannot beat a proper keypad and "desktop" facilities to type excessively lol.

 

So within an hour we were in PC World trying to decide on one that would be within budget...we decided to spend £200 on each other. At first I was thinking a 10inch note book type would be ideal and in budget... but when looking at them I figured they were too close to the Ipad and it may be a little pointless.

 

I'm not very good with budgets lol...I always manage to justify to myself why they should be increased and in this case the ones I liked were more than £200. Typical! The one I decided on is called Asus X551CA-SX29H 15.6" Laptop and has a Windows 8 operating system. To be honest I've not really got my head round the Windows 8 system...I'm really using it, in the main, for the desktop element.

 

The laptop costs £280 in PC World and was actually recommended over a £300 one...I wasn't given any specifics as to why but when I discovered they had sold out of mine and I was then trying to decide whether to get the more expensive one...."justifying budget increase in my head" I was told to hold out for the ASUS due to it being a better model.

 

I then, not being able to wait for anything ever lol went next door to Currys and got one from there!! Sorted!! 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, justifying more spending, I decided that I needed a laptop case ASAP because how could I possibly spend money on something and not keep it all pristine and looked after. The one I've gone for is a zip case and I thought it would be apt to get one with my birth year on it. Ya know..why not! Its from EBay for £4.25 Just something quite simple to keep it in around the house as I'm not planning on using it when travelling......so with that let the blogging begin!!!!

 

BNTB x x