Good morning! So after sharing with you the Wah Nails Book of Nail Art, I thought the next logical step would be to show you a look I recreated from it. I've actually recreated a couple of them now, but don't want to overwhelm you with amazing nails (haha) so I'll just show you the one today. Now, the look would work a lot better (in my opinion anyway) on longer nails (which I am desperately trying to get, anyone got any good tips to for growing nails? My main problem is peeling on the index fingers and occasionally breakages) so you will have to use your imagination! I got quite a few compliments wearing this look and it is absolutely perfect for summer - it looks like little deck chairs on your fingers! The colours I used were Essie's 'To Buy Or Not To Buy', Maxfactor 'Mellow Yellow', Revlon 'Minted' (that classic!), Rimmel 'Aqua Cool' 420, Revlon 'Silver' and a Sally Hansen white which has a thin brush for the stripes. I think I might do this look again when I go on my hols because I did enjoy wearing it. However I did just buy three new polishes which need (yes need) testing so maybe not. 

Hope you're all fantastically well and I just wanted to say thankyou to Catrine from Unnaked Nails for mentioning me on her blog yesterday, it was so sweet of her and if you haven't been over to her blog already you really really should. She gives me major nail envy because hers are exactly the shape that I want and are such a good length - I am jealous! She does some amazing nail art and just basically has a very lovely blog - so go now! Anyway, that's it for today, hope you all had a good weekend and speak soon!

p.s. I don't know if I dreamt it or actually did post about the new top coat I'm using at the moment but I've started using the Nail's Inc 'Albert Bridge' 45 second dry topcoat and it is fantastic. It dries super quick and leaves your nail feeling so smooth. Also, I have noticed a reduction in the amount of chipping I get throughout the day, so all in all a winner in my books! 

Something a bit different for my Make-up Monday post today. Just thought I'd show you a few items that are my absolute must haves every week.

First up, the Good Things Five Minute Facial Face Mask which I did a full review of here. I love using face masks and use one at least once a week and at the moment this is by far my favourite. Next up the Boots Botanics Microdermabrasion Polish. I absolutely love a good microdermabrasion scrub, I think there is nothing better to make your skin glow and feel deliciously smooth ad as if you've just walked out of a fabulous beauty spa. Now I know not everyone is a big fan of scrubs for the face, and I don't advocate using them too much, but I think on a weekly basis a good scrub can do wonders. I do have a Clarisonic which I use most nights, but on the day I use this scrub I obviously pass on the Clarisonic step. I first discovered microdermasion scrubs when I got a sample of a Dermalogica one in a GlossyBox a while ago and had been meaning to try out some others for ages. I picked this one up in Boots about a month and a half ago and would highly recommend it. 

My third weekly essential is a good fake tan. What I tend to do is use fake tan once a week and then the rest of the time I will use a gradual tan to keep it topped up. A fake tan that I would recommend is the one pictured, the L'Oreal Sublime Bronze Self Tanning Gel. This sinks in like an absolute dream and doesn't leave you feeling sticky. It does have a bit of a fake tan smell, but I personally don't mind that. I find that the colour lasts reasonably well, especially if you moisturise regularly and exfoliate before applying it. This one is also suitable for the face and it has never caused me any problems in terms of breakouts or clogged pores.

Number four on the weekely essentials list is a hair mask. At the moment I am using (or trying to use up, more to the point) the Tresemme Split Remedy mask, which I purchased when I was going through my hair experiment to try and rescue it. This mask is alright, I haven't noticed great things from it, it makes my hair a bit smoother and less tangly when I use it but I wouldn't recommend it above any other hair mask on the high street. I am definitely looking in to trying out some more high end masks in the future because I've not yet found one that I really love. 

The fifth product is a brush cleanser. Now, I do know that you're supposed to wash your brushes every time you use them, but to be honest I just don't have the time or energy. I know there are people out there that are fastidious when it comes to brush cleaning and I do admire them, but personally I feel that once a week is enough! I'm only using them on my own face, it's not as if I'm doing other people's make up with them, and I very rarely have any active breakouts so for me, once a week is fine. I use the MAC Brush Cleanser which I would highly recommend, I feel like it does a really thorough job and claims to condition brushes as it cleans. 

The last two products are a cuticle remover and a pair of tweezers. It's recommended on the back of the cuticle remover to use it once a week, so that's exactly what I do. I use the one from the Boots Salon range, as recommended by Anna from Vivianna Does Makeup and find that it works very well indeed. The tweezers I use are the Tweezerman 'Petite Tweeze' ones which I've had for years. I find that a once a week eyebrow up-keep routine works fine for me, just to get out any stray hairs and keep them looking how I want them to. 

So there we have it, a little insight to my weekly essentials and beauty routine, I hope you found it interesting! I'm sure I've probably missed something really important out but these are the main things I could think of. If you have any additions I would love to hear them so leave me a comment below :)! I hope you're all having a great day and I shall talk to you again soon! 

Hello again! I hope you're all well and have had good weekends. I wanted to let you know about a little plan that I have made for my blog. I am well aware that my posts have been a bit sporadic and random over the last few weeks and I want to try and rectify this, so have developed a little post schedule so that it all seems a bit more coherent and so that you can have an idea of what sort of posts to expect and when. It seems to make sense and I know I enjoy reading other people's blogs when they have a sort of continuous feel to them and I know what to expect from each type of post. So, at the moment the plan is to do some sort of make-up related post on a Monday, be it showing you new bits and pieces I've bought or just discussing a new make-up trend. Wednesdays will be for reviews of products because there are always things that I want to share with you or things that I've bought and tried. Fridays will be for fashion posts, so maybe a little collection of pieces I've seen and loved, or maybe a few outfit ideas using one key piece. Then finally, the weekends will be saved for miscellaneous posts, be it a Weekend Wish List, a general talk about what's going on, a book review or something food related (which, I know, I haven't actually done yet despite it being in my header!). So I hope that made sense and maybe my blog will become a bit more organised! I know for sure that it will help me to post more regularly because I seem to have just been doing a lot of reviews recently. Now, let's get this show on the road and talk about the topic of today's Make-up Monday!

I know in this one and the one below the colour seems quite different (the lighting!) but it is more like the one above, very bright!

And that is...a recent purchase I made from No.7, of course using the £5 off voucher! I did originally go in with the intention of picking up a new nail varnish, but to be honest I have so many now that there just wasn't anything that really stood out. On my browsing, however, I did have a little swatch session in the blusher area and remembered (or convinced myself) that I was in fact missing a bright candy pink in my collection. I seem to have gone off blusher a bit at the moment but I think it's just because I don't have any that are really floating my boat. So I picked this one up, which is No. 22 Candy Pink - perfect! I am actually really impressed with the formula so far, it feels almost creamy and it really nicely pigmented. I can tell that this is going to last a long time because you don't need to apply much to get a good colour pay-off. Also, I'm pretty sure it's completely matte, absolutely no shimmer or glitter in there at all, which pleases me greatly. With the voucher it was £4.50, which I don't think is half bad at all. 

I know a lot of you must have been taking advantage of the vouchers being given out again (who can resist a good bargain!), so do let me know what you picked up! Hope you're all fantastically well and I look forward to being more organised in my blogging! Love to you all!