Trip to Trafford Bargains

Today we went to the Trafford centre for the first time since being back at Uni. I didn't go with the intention of buying anything, I purely love the experience, but when in Rome. 

We had a quick blast around the new Forever 21 store, and although unimpressed with the clothes, I found this layered aztec print triangle necklace for just £4.90. 

I love it, a great ensemble to any upcoming outfit. 

I also took advantage of my 20% voucher in River island, courtesy of Company Magazine, when I bought this dark red scarf print Bodycon dress, £20 (£25 originally).

I love it, the print and cut out design makes it really flattering and I love the colours. Can't wait to wear it out! It's going to be a popular item this season. 

Hello Kiko

Hi Guys,

I'm in Spain and as my family know about my nail addiction, my auntie thoughtfully showed me this Italian cosmetics brand Kiko. They have thousands of colours for only £1.50! Not only that, they have loads of make up and cosmetics for really good prices too! 

They have everything from concealer to blue mascara and their moto is 'be who you want' which is quite nice.

Below are a few of my favourites from them and the colours that I bought. 

Something I've never seen before to test nail varnishes is putting out cellotape for the customers to tear off, put on their arm or hands and paint some of the colours on to it to see what they look like, really good idea.

I've seen crackle before but not in wacky colours, so I got two to try out.

This says magnetic but its metallic pink, a cool shiny silver affect mixed with the colour.

And these three bold colours. I got some shades that I'm missing from my collection at the moment to make it a bit more complete. I really love the orange.

And here are a few of my favourite make up bits. 

Glossy Eye Pencil  

£5.20

Soft Focus Compact Wet & Dry Mineral Foundation

£3.00

Sunproof Powder Foundation 

£5.50

Blooming Eyeshadow Palette

£3.00

Super Colour Mascara 

£5.90

Lip Glaze

£1.50

Smart Lipstick 

£2.00

Skin Evolution Concealer

£3.80

They always have special offers going on but the only shop they have in the UK is in London Westfield. They have a UK website but I'm not sure about the delivery charges. 

Anyway I think its a great international brand and I hope they bring more stores to the UK soon!

French Grazia 'Forte Impression' Spread

Whilst in France, I picked up this French Grazia for just €1! So I thought I'd feature it because its interesting to see the difference between this and UK Grazia. 

So here is the Forte Impression spread in French Grazia!

I love the prints and the silhouettes coming through with designers such as Ermanno Scervino, Chloe, Yves Saint Laurent and Assad Mounser taking part in this shoot. 

Back, with Goodies

I'm back from turkey baring gifts. 

As any fellow fashionista would know, turkey is filled with fakes designer goods, and of course I took advantage. 

Its made me want to go back with a large empty suitcase and fill it full of Louis and Bans. 

Whilst there I bought a small mulberry bag, two mulberry purses (one for the sister and one for the mum) which I didn't photograph because they snatched them up straight away! As well as some brown Ray Bans. I was then scorned by my family for not buying more!

Whilst there my mum messaged me saying I had a package, and it turns out it was my nail art pens that I ordered weeks ago! I can't wait to try them out and hopefully sell some designs!

 Thats all I have to report for now, and I'm away on a family trip to france for the weekend tomorrow, but I'll be back with more posts very soon!

Happy August guys!

DIY Tribal Shorts

My beloved levi shorts were on their last legs, so I decided to give them a make over. 

This trend is is popular this season with H&M anD Topshop having both done denim shorts with tribal accents.

I had loads of paint left over from my textiles days,  so after researching a few aztec patterns, I got to work painting. 

I used acrylic and fabric paint, so I daren't put them in the wash until I find something to seal it onto the fabric! 

I started off with a few stripes. 

I then started adding a few patterns. 

I did it on the front and back pockets. 

And here is the finished result! 

I teamed them with a small black waist belt and my urban outfitters aztec bag which I got in the sale last year. 

I think I'll save these for the only festival I'm going to this summer. 

Water Marbling Attempt

I keep seeing really weird effect nails on twitter and instagram. I was intrigued so thought I'd research and give it a bash. Turns out the technique is called water marbling and believe me, its a lot harder than it looks. 

Its messy and hard to achieve but good fun!

If you want to have a go, heres how I did it, first attempt didn't really go well, but give it a try and see if you can master the art any better!

Fill a bowl with a bit of water, and add a drop of your first colour (of nail polish, obviously).

Add another on top of that. 

Once you've added a couple more, swirl the colours around with a make up brush handle, or a pencil or something. 

Dip your nails in to the colour, most people tape around their nails so they don't get paint on their fingers. 

I am not most people. 

Wipe around the edges with a cue tip or pad with nail varnish remover and voila! 

I tried again with one nail and got a better effect. 

Not very good quality pictures but this attempt worked better than the last. 

You might not be able to see but the colour goes from dark pink to light and the tip with a blue bit near the cuticle and a white streak. 

And there you have it, water marbling your nails! well kind of. 

If you have attempted it yourself, please let me know and give me some tips!