nail of the day

On Saturday I added this little beauty to my already large collection of nail varnish. It's such a lovely nude shade, not too grey or beige and with a hint of  mauve-y pink. Very classic and sophisticated as the name 'Darling' would suggest!

Not quite sure why my knuckles look like I've suffered a tanning disaster...

The brand - 'L.A. Girl' - is not one that I've heard of before but at £1.99 I couldn't see a reason not to try it! The brush was a decent size, making the nail easy to paint, and the polish was a nice smooth consistency. I used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri over the top as I always do, to speed up the drying time (impatience...) and prevent my nails from chipping :)

I picked up this nail polish from Beauty Base in the Westfield at Stratford and if you haven't been I definitely recommend having a look as it's absolutely fab for cheapy nail varnishes and discounted perfume. I've also been to one in Westfield White City but by the looks of the website there's only a few more branches, all of which are in the London area, although you can order online.

xx

the english restaurant, spitalfields / bye bye s&m

My sister stayed with me over the weekend and before she went to catch her train from Liverpool Street we thought we'd go for a spot of breakfast to help our poor bodies recover from the night before.

Left: The English Restaurant, Right: S&M

For a few years, whenever I've needed my Eggs Benedict fix pre or post train journey, I've headed to S&M on Brushfield Street by Spitalfields Market. So imagine my horror today when my sister, my boyfriend and I turn up to an empty shop and a message confirming that they have closed. I already knew that their other branch on Essex Road in Islington (which I'd also been to a few times) had shut, but I hadn't assumed that both cafes were going :( !

I love love love Eggs Benedict and S&M had never disappointed me. Perfectly poached eggs, nestling on warm toasted buttered muffins with lovely thick cut ham and PLENTY of buttery rich hollandaise sauce - and a free mug of tea! Nom nom.

Anyway, after a few minutes of crying we decided we had to move on with our lives and chose to try out the cafe next door, The English Restaurant.

The decor was lovely: old dark wood and little dimly lit booths to lounge in and read the paper on a Sunday morning. Very nice. So expecting good things we sat down and ordered 2x Eggs Benedict with a bacon sandwich for my sister. Then the food arrived... Instantly I saw there was not enough hollandaise sauce for starters (I like an ocean). Then after tucking in I realised that  the eggs were a bit wobbly still, undercooked and sad and that my muffins were not toasted enough and therefore cold. So I ate my Eggs Benedict in disappointed silence.

Breakfast finished but plate not licked clean. Bad sign.

There wasn't really any difference in price apart from having to pay for tea but I don't think we'll be going again. We'll now have to search for another place to fulfil our hollandaise-y needs.

RIP S&M :(

x

my favourite things: foundation and blusher

Hello again!

I have so many squillionz of things that I would (and will!) love to chit-chat about on this blog but I thought that perhaps the best thing to do to start things off would be to tell you about some of my favourite things! This is mostly just beauty items but I've added a few other categories :)

I'd originally planned this to be one long post but then I realised it would be colossal... so - instalment one = my favourite foundation and blusher!

Foundation:


My favourite foundation (although it's not technically a foundation...) is one that hasn't been around for that long. Personally I love my skin to look not too matte and have a nice natural looking glow - or so that is the aim. Most of the time I tend to have pretty good skin too and I therefore like my coverage to be quite sheer and light, although I have found that this foundation can be buildable to some extent.

*Drum roll*  I know by this point you are all dying to know the product that I am talking about, which is No7's Beautiful Skin BB Cream. I use the one for Normal/Dry skin in the colour Fair.

It's just so lovely and soft and moisturising and it has SPF 15 for protection and mmmmmmm... Last time I saw my sister she asked me what I'd changed about my skincare because she said my skin looked so healthy - just this!

You can get it from Boots in stores or online for £12.95 which is quite a decent price in itself, but the price is even more scrumptious when you have your £5 off No7 voucher :)

Blusher:

Now this was a hard one because I have lots of blushers that I think are wonderful. However, after many tears, I finally settled on Sleek's Blush in Flamingo.

Left: applied with a blush brush (although heavily), Right: swatched

If you are thinking that this looks terrifying at first then I will forgive you; I felt the same. However, you only need the lightest touch and this gives you such a pretty and summery looking cheek. Just make sure when you're in a rush you don't put too much on your brush... I love the packaging with the mirror inside as well. The price is fab too - £4.30, hurrah!

This is available from Superdrug and from the Sleek website.

(When I was getting the link for the Sleek website I spotted on their homepage that for a limited time only in Superdrug stores they are selling palettes with three blushers in (cue a little squeal from me!) These are in

'Pink Sprint' which appears to have one fluorescent pink shade and two plummy looking colours,

'Sugar' which has a more muted darker pink shade, a shimmery looking brown toned blusher and a sort of muted coral-like colour,

'Lace' which contains a coral, a light shimmery looking beige and a light peachy shade,

'Pumpkin' which includes a very bright orange, a soft light pink and a rose goldish colour and finally

'Flame' which has a dark shimmery looking red, a very bright red and a more muted but shimmery brown/pink shade.

Head over to the Sleek website and have a look... see you in Superdrug!)

Hopefully you've enjoyed this post and I look forward to chatting to you again soon :)

x

P.s. went to Superdrug at Westfield Stratford yesterday and they didn't have the blush sets... very disappointed. The hunt continues!

hello, welcome etc. !

So if you are reading this, then I suppose you must have stumbled across my blog :) I intend to write about anything that takes my fancy so prepare yourself for my rambling thoughts which will more than likely involve clothes, make up, food, dogs, exhibitions, books and probably many other odd things...

x