My week in photos and what I bought

From L-R:

1. Stage one of the process of experimenting with dip dye. I'm hoping the blue will turn out as awesome as this so fingers crossed. Also can't get enough of these metal collar style necklaces going around, this one is from River Island (£7) and I love it so much I bought the silver one too.

2. Yummy handmade spinach and ricotta ravioli from Pasta Remoli in Westfield.

3. New bag from Zara (£19.99) but I might get the black version. Grey looks chic but it gets so grubby when going to and from work on the trains.

4. Another Westfield purchase, my new Bobble water bottle! I have no problem drinking tap water but I hate the taste of it when I've refilled a normal plastic water bottle. I always get told off for not drinking more water and I'm hoping this will encourage me to.

5&6. Constant rain and grey skies are so depressing but I've been getting lots of wear out of my mid calf boots my dad bought for me. £18 from Aldi would you believe it.

7. Collection 2000 Multiplier Mascara isn't too grand but it was a cheap buy (£4.99) and the Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner was free with purchase (usually £2.99). Hands down the best felt tip eyeliner I've ever used. It doesn't smudge and it stays on ALL day.

8. I love my new jim jam bottoms from Primark (£5).

9. Found my Nintendo DS in a drawer and I've spent all day on this. Gotta catch em all!

What have you been upto this week?

My rubbish attempt at gradient nails

Whilst looking through the fuckyeahprettynails tumblr I came across these amazing gradient nails! I never knew it was possibile to do this before so was pretty impressed.

source: pamheega

I wanted to have a stab at it myself and turned to youtube to see what I could find. There are lots of tutorials on gradient/two tone nails but I went along with the techniques as seen in this one.

I used Barry M's "Berry Ice cream" as my base coat and Collection 2000's "Dynasty" and George by Asda's "Streamer" as the two top coat colours. I didn't have a makeup sponge so I used a washing up one that I cut up.

This is how it turned out - splodgey and without a gradient, which is because the sponge I used was coarse. I am going to buy some cheapo makeup sponges (which are much smoother) and will post my second attempt in the near future. Now where's my nail polish remover.......

NOTD: Dynasty

This truly is my favourite nail polish to date.

Top 3 polishes

My entry into Hele and Holly's Nails Inc giveaway over at The Nail Buff

It was really hard to choose just three, but I managed to narrow it down to these.

-Barry M nail paint in Shocking Pink. I will never tire of bubblegum hot pink polishes and this is my favourite. I always wear it on my toes - looks great whilst wearing flip flops!

-Collection 2000 Hot Looks in Dynasty. Although I only got this the other week, it has graced my fingernails since. I usually stick to bright pinks and this is the first lilac toned colour I've come across that's suited me. Love it!

- Revlon nail enamel in Cherries in the Snow. I was looking for a darker pink that wasn't verging towards maroon, like a true raspberry colour and came across this. It's a more grown up and sophisticated pink and I like wearing it just on the tips sometimes.

I love Freebies! Dazzle Me dust and Nails Inc

I recently entered a competition online (don't really remember what for) and today I got a lil magazine in the post from Fabulous - the supplement that comes with News of the World? And it informed me that although I hadn't won, there was a voucher for a free Dazzle me eyeshadow by Collection 2000 from Superdrug. So I went to pick it up today and because I didn't want to come across as a total freeloader, I took advantage of their 2 for £2.99 offer on their new nail polishes.



I got BMX Bandit, on the left, which reminds me of a "periwinkle" crayola crayon, and Dynasty. I thought the quality would be plop considering it's Collection 2000, but they are surprisingly good. The consistency is thick and creamy, and 2 coats is all you need.

For my dazzle dust, I chose the shade "Paradise" which is a soft shimmery gold. I haven't had the chance to test it yet but will do a proper review post when I do. Here's a stock photo from their website:



Okay so whilst I was googling "Fabulous" to check what newspaper it came from, I saw on their website that they were giving away free Nail Inc polishes!



A few have sold out already because it started yesterday but I managed to get one! I chose the above shade "China Town" which is described as hot pink with purple pearlised swish .

The offer is here. Just choose your shade, and add to basket, then enter the code FABNA0709. There's a £1 p&p charge but it also says you can buy any other items online and you won't be charged any more postage!. Another bonus is that if you sign up to their newsletter before you purchase this, they'll send you a free mini polish with your first order. Not sure if it works with this offer but it's worth a try right?