Birthday Nails - Rimmel SpaceDust in Moonwalking

It's kinda an odd time of year to be blogging about glitter nail varnish but last week it was my birthday and if you can't wear glitter on your birthday, when can you?

Last Autumn, Rimmel came out with a limited edition SpaceDust collection (you can probably still find them online?) and MoonWalking is one of my favourite shades. 

It's purple with silver glitter and it's sparkly without looking too Christmassy. The formula is actually amazing. I only used 2 coats which is impressive for a glitter, especially one from the drugstore, it's pretty easy to remove too. 

What do you think? Glitter nails, yay or nay? 

My Week #3

The plan for Monday was to go shopping for my mums birthday present but it didn't go exactly to plan. I got up and ready but suddenly felt like I was going to be sick just before leaving and the stomach pains came back! After about 45 I felt well enough to go and although I still felt really unwell for most of the time we were out, im result glad I decided to go. I took my wheelchair which, not gonna lie, helped SO much! It honestly helped me loads and I'm so glad I took it instead of being stubborn and walking. I can't imagine the amount of pain I would of been in if I had walked - I was in a lot of pain anyway! 

Birthday nails

It was my 17th birthday on Thursday. I had a lovely day at home with my mum and my auntie and nan too, opening presents and drinking tea and eating cake. I would of liked to be well enough to go out but there's always next year.. I'll be 18! 

Birthday goodies! 

On Saturday I was going to go to a charity concert with my family but wasn't well enough to go - boo! 

But luckily I felt a lot better on Sunday because me, my mum, my sister and brother went out for breakfast for my birthday treat! 

Birthday Breakfast

I wanted to do something a little bit different for my birthday this year but I'm obviously not well enough to do anything that involves too much walking or would use much energy - boo! Most years we go out for dinner so I thought if switch it up a bit and go out for breakfast/brunch instead. 

The destination of choice was Frankie and Bennys.

But first, selfie time!

My sister, caught in the moment, mid-swallow 

My brother, clearly enjoying the experience. Not. 

My sister went for the Bacon and Maple Syrup pancakes...

And me, my mum and brother had the blueberry pancakes..

Let me know if you have any recommendations for breakfast places in Kent, we would love to find some new places to try! I hope you all had a great weekend! xx

P.S a post on the make up I wore is coming soon! 

My Week #2

Monday was not such a good day ME-wise, my pain got a lot worse every time I ate something. I felt cold then hot then cold again. I had a headache, felt sick, dizzy and just not good. Glands made an appearance too and were super sore! I managed a little bit of college work but not much. I didn't even manage a shower or bath, kinda gross but true. 

Bright pink nails from the beginning of the week. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I felt a lot worse and began to get bad stomach pain which meant that I didn't eat much or get much college work done. I felt really ill, which was probably the worst I've felt in nearly a year. 

Thursday I felt a little bit better but still didn't manage to sleep much and was feeling very anxious about why I was feeling so ill and why my stomach hurt so bad. 

By Friday I was pretty much okay but still wasn't eating properly and my stomach was sore. I just couldn't put my finger on why I had stomach pains when I hadn't eaten anything different, didn't have an upset stomach or had been sick. 

Saturday I painted my nails with Barry M - Greenberry and had a pretty chilled day. It was pretty hot and did a little bit of college work. Really not a very interesting day. 

I also started a new book, and read it in the garden. 

P.S it's a sad one! 

Sunday I washed my hair and had a shower. We had a BBQ for dinner and chocolate covered strawberries - yum! 

Feeling lonely, friends and missing out

Recently I've been feeling really down about the fact that I don't have a lot of friends. I have a lot of online friends, people I write to and talk to on twitter and don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful for them all and I love them loads but sometimes I wish I had more real-life friends that i can hang out with. 

There are so many hurdles to get over and problems to face though. For example: how would I meet new friends? I finish college in a couple of weeks and I'm not well enough to join any clubs or groups. If I made friends, I wouldn't be able to do a lot with them because I can't walk too far or go shopping etc. I am only 16 (17 next week!) and I don't have much of a social life which makes me sad because I think I'm quite a social person. I like to talk (a lot) and I'd really like to hang out with people my own age but it's too complicated and it wouldn't be fair on the people I hung out with. 

Sometimes I think I've got my ME under control and I manage to do quite a lot and it doesn't affect me much but other times, like at the moment, when I'm super poorly, I'm like "wow, I really do have ME don't i?!" I don't really have a way of controlling this and it is a huge part if my life. 

Sometimes it hits me how much I can't do. I can't eat certain things, I can't do anything that requires much energy, I can't walk or exercise, I can't work the job that I want to. And I literally cannot explain to you, how much ME sucks. It really sucks and at the moment, it sucks big time. 

Rimmel Pop Your Pink NOTD

The Rimmel nail polish brushes are some of my faves and with the summer weather being here, I've rekindled my love for bright pinks. Pop Your Pink is a hot pink and takes 3 coats to be opaque - as with a lot of neons, it can be a little streaky. The wear time is pretty good, you could probably get 5-6 days out of it with a good top and base coat and it dries really fast. 

So, what do you think? Are you a bright pink kinda girl? 

Penny Talk

I literally can't remember the last time I painted my nails with something other than an Essie polish... Okay, slight exaggeration but I do seem to be using Essie a lot lately! 

Penny Talk is originally from the Mirror Metalics Collection 2012 but is still available on their website so I think it is now permant in the diffusion line. 

It is described as an "authentic copper metallic" on the Essie website, it is a gorgeous coppery rose gold colour and is perfect for all year round (it looks particularly pretty in the sunshine and would be great for a party or event). 

In the photo above, I used 2 coats (even though you could probably get away with just 1!). It dries super quickly, the Metalics are the fastest drying Essie formula I have come across. 

So, what do you think? It's definitely a one-off colour and I don't think I've seen any other brands do anything similar. 

My Week #1

It's been very beauty-related around these parts recently so I thought I'd start a new little series where at the end of the week, I tell you what I've been up to and how I've been feeling etc. 

On Monday, I was super tired. The day mainly consisted of writing my assignment for college, having a bath and boring stuff like that! I wrote and published my post on my new Avon Gel Finish polish.

Tuesday I felt a lot worse. When I woke up, my head really hurt and so did my whole body. It felt like I'd been hit by a truck during the night. I didn't get any college work done like I hoped but I sat in the garden for the afternoon to read my book, It's Raining Men by Milly Johnson (she's my fave!). 

I go to college for a couple of hours most Wednesdays but this week we had a inset day so I stayed home and worked some more. 

Thursday was one of the most exciting days of the week. Me and my best friend Lucy both had days off from college/school so we went for a picnic. Photos were meant to be taken but I forgot..oops! 

Friday was super sunny so a lot of time was spent in the garden. I was going to fake tan but my mit broke - boo! I finished my book and started reading Stately Pursuits by Katie Fforde. 

Saturday was pretty boring and my pain was bad after I took a shower and washed my hair. Lots of time was spent on Pinterest! 

Sunday was bootfair day so I got up at 5:30am - which probably wasn't very sensible after only 3 1/2 hours sleep! It was super cold so my body was protesting and my pain was super bad, I was really grumpy and FREEZING (but still managed to be super sweaty at the same time - tmi?!) and sooo tired. When we got home, I slept for 2/3 hours and felt rubbish all evening, my glands are now super sore and I'm going to need to do some serious hard-core resting today (Monday). 

My squished-into-the-car bootfair selfie! 

How was your week? Let me know if you liked this weekly post xx 

Ready for Red

Avon Gel Finish in the shade Firecracker (Photographs are without a topcoat)

There are no two ways about it, red nail varnish does not suit me, it just doesn't! I've always wanted to be one of those girls who can pull off red nail polish and look sophiscated and classy but it really does not suit me.

I can wear red lipstick but why not nail polish? It's one of life's many mysteries! 

My initial reason for picking up this Avon Gel Finish Polish was to test out the formula of the range but a lot of the shades were similar to other polishes in my collection... I thought I'd be daring and go for red! 

When applying the nail polish, i wanted to test out the shine most of all. It's a 'Gel' nail polish so you supposedly don't need a topcoat to make it glossy. 

I was super impressed and loved the formula. At first it was really glossy but then after about 12 hours the shine seems to fade on me. I always use a top coat with the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine polishes and I would suggest you do with these ones too. 

Overall, I'd definitely by more from the range as I do like the formula, I'm interested in trying out the yellow as yellow nail polishes are notoriously streaky and hard to apply so maybe the gel formula will help with that. 

Revolution Blush Haul

I've always wanted to try a baked blush and all of the Revolution ones look beautiful online. It was so hard to chose and I could easily of bought them all but I finally narrowed them down to two, Bang Bang You're Dead and Loved Me The Best. 

Bang Bang You're Dead is a gorgeous pink with darker pinky-red veining. It leaves a pretty pink sheen on the cheeks and is a great everyday colour. 

Loved Me The Best is darker but when blended out can look natural on the cheeks too. It's a duskier darker pink with more of a red-orange-coral tone - kind of hard to explain! 

Overall, these look great and they're super pretty! I love the finish of them and as they are 'baked' they look sheeny/glowy and natural on the cheeks which is a great compromise between wearing a shimmering blush and a matte one. 

1 Month Heathy Eating Update and Healthy Cookie Recipe

So it's been over a month since I changed my diet and to be honest it seems like so much longer. I'm a lot more used to it now but still crave a lot of bad things, especially as we have lots of other food in my house for the rest of our family. I have had quite a few things that I shouldn't but I don't think I've done too badly overall. I'm still working out the sorts of things that I like to eat and still trying to find alternatives. 

The thing I've been struggling most with is sweet cravings and although I'm used to eating salads and plain veg for dinner now, I still crave something sweet for afterwards. I then came across a recipe online for some "healthy" cookies so decided to give them ago. The idea is that you replace the bad stuff with not so bad stuff and it's all about finding a more natural alternative to things that aren't so great for you. 

Instead of using normal flour, these cookies use almond flour/ground almonds which is great for those that have to avoid wheat. I was able to find ground almonds in my local tesco and they are actually used for baking macaroons which I did not know! 

Instead of using butter, I used coconut oil which is super good for you and has no trans fats or e-numbers - yay! 

Instead of using sugar, these cookies use maple syrup which is a lot better for you and more natural. Again, this was pretty easy to find. One of my main concerns about "healthy" baking was that a lot of recipes contain ingredients that are really hard to get hold of, but this reviews doesn't which is amazing! 

Here is the full list of ingredients: 

250g almond flour/ground almonds 

5 tablespoons coconut oil - melted 

4 tablespoons maple syrup

4 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons almond milk (I used goats milk though) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips 

Preheat your oven to 180C. 

Firstly, you mix all the wet ingredients into a bowl. 

Then all the dry ingredients into a separate bowl and combine them together slowly and add the chocolate chips.

 Line your baking try with grease proof paper and spoon out your mixture so that each cookie is about one tablespoon of mixture. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes.