Alphabet of Love! A-F...

Hi girls,

I thought it might be a nice idea to do something different with my blog. I read so many other blogs and feel like I know some of the bloggers so well, even though I've never met them. The photos they share, the way they write and experiences they talk about make me feel like I've known them for years!

When I was looking through some old posts on my blog I started to think that maybe my blog doesn't really allow you to get to know me as a person. I would love to get to know some of you lovely people from the blogging community, whether you have a blog yourself or not, and I figure the best start is to allow you to get to know me a little better :-)

So I've come up with the idea of doing an alphabet of things I love. Hopefully this will allow you to understand the people, objects and slightly random 'things' that rock my boat, so to speak!

I'll be doing this in four separate posts over the next week or two. So, where better to start than with 'A'?!

...A Walk to Remember

I'm such a girly girl when it comes to films. I hardly ever settle down to watch a movie as I don't really have the patience, but whenever I do it's always for a real chick flick! A Walk to Remember is a real favourite of mine - so happy yet so sad at the same time. If you are one of the few that hasn't seen it, I can't recommend it highly enough. (And who wouldn't want to change Landon from bad boy to marriage material like Jamie does?!)

...Britney

So Britney's staging a bit of a comeback at the moment what with her recent Glee appearance and all, but I've been a fan since waaaay back in the day. I was lucky enough to see her perform at the O2 a couple of years ago, and although her voice wasn't the greatest, the show she put on was just unbelievable.

It's Britney, bitch!

...Cheese

Anyone who knows me in real life knows what a terribly fussy eater I am, and that basically my whole diet is based around cheese (I'll worrry about my cholesterol in a few years). Even on Christmas day when the whole family tucks into a traditional meal, I have a cheese and tomato pizza! This is serious - the picture below was Christmas Day 2009...

I need to start expanding my list of 'Erin-safe' foods!

...Dancing

'Dance like no one's watching', so the saying goes. I just LOVE to dance. I never went to lessons as a child but spent many an hour in my bedroom dancing along to the Spice Girls, Five and the Backstreet Boys! When I went to university I joined the dance club - the Aston WildKatz, and had the most brilliant time. Here's a pic of some of us after one of our performances...

I met so many great people and had so much fun performing and competing with them. Now I've left uni I'd love to join a new dance club, as I really miss it.

...Ebay

I am a little bit addicted to ebay, although much more on the selling than buying side. I've bought a few things but mainly sell items I buy from car boots and charity shops, or my own no longer wanted goodies. I tend to go through ebay bursts though, so whenever I have 20 parcels to post, people in the Post Office better beware - they're in for a long wait!

... Fancy Dress

I am a huge fan of fancy dress. When I was at university (I graduated last summer) no night out was complete without fancy dress! It's one of the big things I miss from my uni days. I did a post here on some of my favourite fancy dress outfits if you want to check any of them out.

Join me next time for 'G' onwards (if you're at all interested!)...

xx

Tag: 15 Random Questions

Evening lovelies.

Something exciting happened today - I was 'tagged'! ha ha. I know this might not seem exciting, but seeing as I've never been tagged to do a post before I was very excited :-) As you can see I don't have that many 'followers', so I'm so grateful to those that I do have and to anyone else who reads my blog. It makes me happy!

Anyway, on to the tag. I was tagged by the lovely Leslie at Strategic Skin to do these 15 random questions. You can check her blog out over at...

http://www.strategicskin.com/blog/

So, without further hesitation, here goes...

1) What is your dream job?

Ideally I would love a career in the sports industry. I graduated in the summer and managed to get a good job with a national retailer, but I just wasn't passionate about it. I've always had a passion for sport, so my dream job would be to work for a top sports club or organisation, maybe in a Marketing, PR or Player Liaison role. I'm on the job hunt as we speak, so if anyone knows of any good opportunities, send them my way! ha ha.

2) What is your favourite fragrance for winter?

If I'm totally honest I don't have a lot of different fragrances and don't have much knowledge in this area. I tend to have one fragrance, use it until it runs out, and then buy a new one. I'd love to have a big collection, but I just don't. This winter I've been wearing my Herve Leger Femme. I think it's gorgeous.

3) How do you take your tea/coffee?

I don't drink tea or coffee at all, I never have. Instead I survive on water, milk and Diet Coke!

4) What is your most important beauty secret?

I don't think I really have a beauty secret - I have a pretty basic routine and don't do anything particularly unusual. Two things I would say are to always take your make up off before bed, and smile! Everyone looks so much more beautiful when they're smiling not scowling!

Picture from weheartit.com

5) If you had an all expenses paid vacation anywhere, where would you go?

I would love this so much right now! Quite random, but I'd probably say somewhere like Iceland. I just love the idea of it being freezing outside and being in a hot spring with a drink in hand. Plus, I believe Iceland is very expensive, so I would probably never be able to afford to go there unless it was paid for by someone else!

6) If a genie popped up in your lap right now and offered you three wishes, what would you ask for?

I would ask for good health for me and all those I care about, enough money for me to get a nice flat and not have to worry about rent, and to meet the man of my dreams :-) One can only hope...!

7) If you could only have breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert foods for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

I'd have to go for breakfast. Crumpets, bagels, toast, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, milk, juice - I don't need anything else!

8) If you were Hello Kitty, what colour hair bow would you wear?

I'm not much of a Hello Kitty fan to be honest. But if I had to choose, judging by the general theme of my wardrobe, I would probably have a black bow, maybe with a bit of sparkle thrown in for good measure. I need to inject more colour into my life and wardrobe...

9) What is your biggest make-up pet peeve?

Hmmm, difficult one. I have a few, but my biggest one would probably be bad foundation/fake tan, where someone's face is a totally different colour to the rest of their body. I may have been guilty of this in the past when I haven't done my make up in the best light, but I don't reckon it's ever been too noticeable! Fingers crossed anyway...

10) If you could wear only one piece of jewellery for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I don't own a piece of jewellery that is particularly special to me, or something that I wear on a daily basis. Hopefully when I meet the man of my dreams (which the genie from the question above will find me!) then I'll have a wedding ring which I wouldn't want to be without.

11) What one talent do you wish you had?

I'd love to be able to sing. I wouldn't even want to be a professional singer, but if I could just get up at karaoke or a party and blow people away I'd be happy :-) And I am a loooong way off from being able to do that I assure you.

12) Which product will you continue to purchase?

Not particularly exciting, but one thing I can't ever imagine not having in Vaseline. I always have a small tin by my bed and one in my handbag - it sorts out my dry lips a treat :-)

13) If you could look into the future, would you? And what would you like to know?

Although it would be majorly tempting, I don't think I would do it, in fear of not liking what I see! But if I did do it, I'd just want to know if I was happy.

14) Who is your biggest celebrity crush? Include pictures!

I'm not sure if he would really be classed as a celebrity, but there's no way I could ever pick anyone other than this person - Sami Hyypia! No, you don't know who he is?! Well, he's a Finnish footballer who used to play for Liverpool but now plays in Germany. I've pretty much loved him for the last 10 years! Seriously. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about him, as I know he's not the most stereotypically good looking person, but I just love him! Oh, and he's 37, not that a bit of an age gap ever mattered!

15) What made you start a blog?

I was encouraged to start a blog by my then boyfriend and a couple of his friends. They had blogs of their own about technology and music and told me I should write about something that really interested me. So I gave it a go and have been hooked since! I enjoy reading other people's blogs just as much as I enjoy writing my own.

So there we go - my random answers to some random questions!

I tag anyone to do this tag who wants to give it a go! If you do it, leave a link in the comments so I can check it out.

xx

Beautifully Black

Hi ladies!

I haven't done a nails post in a while, and really wanted to show you this little baby, which I put on for the meal I posted about here.

It's from No7 and is 'Beautifully Black' (number 70). It's the first No7 nail varnish I've ever owned because I normally stick to the slightly cheaper brands such as 17, Rimmel and Barry M. If I'm totally honest I only got it because I had one of those £5 No7 vouchers they regularly give out at Boots, so I thought I would try it out!

Here's the same image, with and without flash, to hopefully show the shade off in its most realistic light.

I used two coats. One would have probably been ok, but I wanted two just to ensure I had full coverage. I have to say that it did exactly as it says on the tin - speed dry. After only a minute or two I was ready to rock and roll.

I hope you can see from the pictures the lovely glittery effect this nail varnish gives. The glitter is very subtle and just gives a gorgeous sheen. It's not like many glitter nail varnishes that are really thick and give a coarse finish that you can tell will be difficult to get off - it still has a super smooth finish. From a distance it almost looks just plain black, as you get a bit closer you can see the lovely sparkling effect.

I was very impressed and will definitely be wearing this again when I want a modern yet sophisticated look.

The reason I have waited a few days to post this review is that I wanted to wait to see how it would fare after being worn for a longer period of time. It's now two days since I painted my nails, and I have to say it's not doing too well. Although some nails are still intact, I do have a lot of chips. However, I have been swimming twice and done a lot of sorting in my room, so maybe this has had something to do with it.

If I were to sum it up I would say it's an absolutely gorgeous nail varnish for an event or evening out which I will definitely be using again, but I wouldn't recommend it for daily wear as I found it did chip quite easily.

What are your favourite nail varnishes at the moment? I find it hard to find darker shades that I really like - has anyone got any recommendations?

xx

Snippets from the Sales

Hello lovely ladies!

As promised, as a follow-on from my last post which showed all my recent bargainous beauty buys, here's a peek at some of my clothing and accessories purchases from the good old January sales :-)

First up is this beautiful evening bag from Next...

I love that it is a clutch, but it also has a strap which can be tucked inside if its not needed (because 90% of the time I take a clutch bag out with me, and by the end of the night when I'm giving it my all on the dancefloor I wish I didn't have to hold my bag!). The colour should go with anything too. I'm having a bit of a clearout at the moment and am discovering I own way too many cheap going out bags (mainly from Primarni) which I want to get rid of, and just have a couple of really nice bags instead.

This little beauty was just £8, reduced from £18 :-)

I'm really into scarves recently, as I seem to be wearing a lot of plain outfits and then adding colour or texture with a scarf. This was from River Island...

It was £24.99 reduced to £10, and is a mix of white, greys and black, with some velvety-feel parts, and some see through sections. Scrumptious!

Everyone has to get PJs for Christmas or in the sales don't they?! It's like an unwritten rule! These were from Dorothy Perkins, reduced from £20 to £12...

The trousers are full length but I folded them to get them all in the picture. I particularly like the top, as on the front it is plain black, but on the back it has the same floral pattern as the trousers - this means that from the back I look like I'm wearing an all-in-one! I can't wait to snuggle up in these :-)

Probably my favourite purchase has to be this jumper from the Signature collection at Next... (even though my mum says it looks like I have ferrets on my shoulders)...

I had wanted it when it was full price at £40, so I couldn't resist when it was marked down to £20 :-)

There's cute button detailing on the back too...

It reminds me of something I saw Frankie Sandford wearing in a magazine. It isn't exactly the same top, but I'll probably wear it in the same way (but won't look as good!).

FInally I got some shoes (of course!). A girl can never have too many black heels right?! Again, these were from Dorothy Perkins...

I love that they will go with everything that a normal pair of black heels would, but are a bit more 'interesting', with the zips and silver heel and platform. The fact that they were reduced from £40 to £10 just makes them even better!

And that's pretty much it :-) I still plan to head in to the sales once more this week, probably in Birmingham, to have a final look for some last minute bargains.

Let me know if you managed to get anything good in the sales. Even better, if you've done a blog post on your bargains, just post the link below - I really want to discover some more good blogs!

xx

Bargain Beauty Buys!

Happy New Year All!

I'm sure along with many other bloggers, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog more often (or at least be more consistent), so here I go with my first post of 2011!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love a bargain :-) So I always get particularly excited about hitting the January sales (I'm not one of those people who queues at 5am though - I normally give it a few days so the serious shoppers get out of the way!)

This year I managed to get quite a few bargains. I'll show my clothes and accessories in a different post, but for now I thought you might perhaps like a gander at my bargain beauty buys!

First up is this gorgeous eye set from No7. As I'm sure you all know, all of Boots' gifts went down to half price after Christmas, and this set was one of those items. I was a very happy bunny to pick this up for £7.50, and it consists of three trio eye shadows, two eyeliners and a small mascara, perfect for my handbag. The packaging on the eye shadows is just adorable.

Next up were these three trio eye shadows from 17. Again, these were half price so I got them for £3. I know the colours are quite similar to some of the ones in the No7 set above, so I'll definitely wait to finish one set until I start the other - I hate having too many similar products on the go at the same time, as I never end up finishing anything off!

I hit Ruby and Millie next (not literally) and got this brush for £4, again from Boots. The shiny casing is gorgeous and it even comes with a lovely leather feel case so it doesn't get scratched on its travels.

Ruby and Millie again, next up is this sleek compact mirror. It has gold casing, swivels open, and has a normal mirror and a x2 mirror (scary!). I wanted to nab myself a compact mirror for my bag in the sales so was very pleased with this :-)

I'm sure many of you know that Boots have recently been doing an offer that when you spend a certain amount you get a £5 voucher for No7 - they do this quite regularly and I'm a big fan! After visiting Boots several times (as you can tell above!) I managed to get hold of two vouchers, and quickly snapped up these two brushes - a concealer brush and an eyeshadow brush. Obviously I had to pay some money towards them, but I still saved £10. I've been wanting to throw out all my old brushes for ages and start a fresh so was very pleased(continued below...!).

I managed to drag myself away from Boots (just!) and next stop was Marks and Spencer. It's not usually one of my favourite shops, but I just fell in love with this little set - funky tweezers, nail clippers and nail file! How cute are the tweezers in particular?! The set was reduced to just £3 so I couldn't say no!

Finally we have these little beauties - a brush set from No7. I've seen these on a few blogs, and I have to agree with everyone that's written about them - the floral pattern is super gorgeous, and the brushes seem great quality. I haven to admit that I didn't actually buy these for myself :-/ I bought them for my mum as an extra Christmas present for £15 from Boots, and then told her that I planned to get myself a set in the sale. However, when I tried to get them in the sales all my local Boots were sold out :-( So my mum said I could have the set I got her, as she knew I really liked them and she already had a nice set :-)

They even come with this cute black patent case with pink lining, which is really handy if you are taking them anywhere with you.

And that's it! Mission Sales Shopping, Accomplished!

Hope you like my purchases! I'm a very happy lady, as I love all the things I bought and, even better, I love that I got them for bargainous prices!

Have any of you managed to get any bargains in the January sales? I'd love to hear about them!

xx