Accessorize Sale Haul

Accessorize currently have a sale on, and I couldn't resist having a look! Surprisingly, I didn't pick up any jewellery. It all looked nice collectively, but nothing stood out individually. The first thing I bought was the coral wallet, which was £8.50 down from £17. To be honest, I bought this in the moment! I'm currently using a purse I'm very happy with, so won't be using this for a while. Still, it'll come in handy one day! Or make a nice present. The next two items were things I'd previously had my eye on, so I'm glad I spotted them at 50% off. The owl keyring was £2.50 down from £5, and the fox purse was £4 down from £8. I bought two owl keyrings; one for me, and one for an extra present. They're so cute! The fox purse may also be a present, but I'm not sure yet. I think both would make nice gifts in a woodland themed present box. I then treated myself to some nice underwear because most of mine is boring and from multi packs. The blue pair were £3.50 down from £7, the black lace pair were £3 down from £6, and the black with pink hearts pair were £2 down from £4.

Have you bought anything from the Accessorize sale?

Sinful Colours Hottie

Natural lighting

Flash

I'd been wearing Astor's nail polish in 70 for 6 days (post here), so decided to spruce it up with my most recent Sinful Colours nail polish in Hottie. I'm wearing 2 coats of Hottie over 70 in the photos above, and cannot stop staring at my nails! It looks so much better in real life, too. Hottie is a sheer, blue based glitter with different sized blue, green, silver, gold, and bronze/purple particles, and I'm pretty sure they're holographic! I've been staring at my nails and the bottle for ages now, and I think they are, but I haven't seen others describe them as so. I think it's one to be worn as a topcoat rather than on its own. As you can see, it looks amazing over cobalt blues! And most blues, I'd imagine. I tried it over a turquoise earlier and that also looked beautiful.

What do you think of this £1.99 glitter? Have you tried it?

Recent Purchases - Republic, Primark, Bourjois and More

I went in town yesterday, ice packs in hand (literally), and bought a few bits that I thought I'd show you!

I bought this top from Republic for £5, down from £18. I'd seen it in there a few times, but could never be bothered to try it on, then decided to just do so yesterday. It's such a pretty top, but it's difficult to get on, and impossible to get off by yourself. I had to get my sister to pull it off over my head! If she wasn't there, I'd have been stuck. Still, for £5, I think it's worth it. I'm going to take the white vest top from underneath out and wear my own because it's a bit baggy, but I'm very happy with the overlay.

The weather must have been affecting my choices in Primark! I bought two more vest tops for £2.50 each. I have a load of these, and wear them under most of my tops to avoid displaying my bra. I also bought some sunglasses for £2.50. This purchase is a big deal for me because I think I look stupid in sunglasses. These, however, don't look too bad! I then bought two pairs of shorts for £4 each. I'm planning to wear these to the beach because I like to keep my bottom and crotch covered!

Boots currently have a 'buy one get one half price' offer going on, and this happened...

I picked up one of the new Bourjois Colour Boost lip crayons in Peach on the Beach for £7.99. It's a beautiful shade! Similar to MUA's Justify. Justify looks like a shocking orange in the packaging, but on the lips it's a pinky peachy shade. I tried taking photos of them together, but they look very different on camera (natural or flash!). I then picked up Sinful Colours' Hottie, which is just stunning. It's a dense, blue based holographic glitter. One coat over a blue polish looks amazing! This is originally £1.99. I also bought the Barry M Limited Edition Nail Paint in Yellow for £3.99. I'd been searching for this for a while, but my local Boots messed up and had the limited edition green shade instead, which is meant to be exclusive to Superdrug. I've been loving yellows lately, so can't wait to wear this! Lastly, I bought Seventeen's Pink Lemonade nail polish (originally £2.99). I've been meaning to pick this up for years, but never did for some reason! It's a nice pinky, slightly peach, shade.

Last night I also bought some items from a blog sale, and can't wait for them to arrive! I bought China Glaze's Tinsel Town for £1, Essie's Where's My Chauffeur for £2.50, and Sleek's Life's A Peach blush for £1.

I'm also waiting on Ciate and Accessorize sale orders, so expect to see them soon!

My Current Beauty Top

I keep all of my beauty products in a chest of drawers, and I use the top to store and display my most used items. When I first converted to a chest of drawers, I kept the top minimalistic with just two white wicker baskets and a pot for my brushes. Well, gradually, more and more things have been added! I prefer my stuff to be out where I can see it and easy to reach. Maybe one day I'll have one of those cream and pink coordinated rooms like other bloggers, but I'm content with my set up for now!

So, the white wicker baskets behind everything were the first items to be added to my beauty top. The first contains the makeup I use regularly, and the second contains some palettes and face masks. To the left you have my most used lip products, and to the right you have my brushes. I used to have just one glass for them, but now I have three. The planters in front of the white wicker baskets aren't the prettiest, but they're useful! In the first I have my primers, and in the second I have my most used facial products such as blemish gels, a mist, a tanner, a light moisturiser, and an oil. The third contains some nail products such as cuticle butter, nail files, and nail art brushes. Back to the left I have a ceramic teacup with some cotton pads in and my Garnier lotion and gradual tanner. These are out because I need to be reminded to use them! In front, I have two Organic Surge moisturisers and a The Body Shop mango body butter. This is because I'm trying to get into a routine of moisturising regularly, and having them out helps me remember. Lastly, on the right, I have some wipes, my Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh perfumes, and some The Body Shop body mists. I was getting tired of opening a draw for the wipes, so decided to keep them on top for easy access!

Are you minimalistic and prefer to store everything away? Or are you like me and end up with products on the tops of everything? To be fair, I only have everything out so I remember to use the products!

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

I made sugar cookies yesterday! I don't think I'd ever tried one up until then, and I'd certainly never made them. Afterwards, I decided to sandwich them together with some vanilla buttercream/frosting. All you need for that is butter, icing sugar, and vanilla extract. I don't usually weigh out my buttercream/frosting ingredients because it all depends on how many treats I make, but your icing sugar ratio should be a lot more than your butter ratio. Then I just split the mixture and added food colouring. 

So, to make around 30 sugar cookies, you'll need:

• 170g butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs (1 large egg may be enough)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 310g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir until you achieve a dough like consistency (you can add more flour if needs be).

3. Chill for about an hour. To speed things up, I put mine in the freezer, then sat down and watched an episode of Supernatural!

4. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut with your chosen cookie cutter.

5. Place onto a greasing papered baking tray one inch a part.

6. Put into a 200c oven for about 10 minutes. Obviously, keep checking on them and use your judgement! 

And that's it! The outcome is sweet, soft little biscuits. They're called cookies, but cookies, to me, are chewy and have chocolate chips.

eBay Necklaces #2

After my last eBay Necklaces post, I ended up buying some more! The three above arrived yesterday, and I have three more in the post. My favourite is the first one, which can be bought here for £1.89. I wore it out last night and really like it. It also comes in nude, light blue, and black. The second can be bought here for £1.87, and the third can be bought here for £1.59. The third is my least favourite, but that may be because I don't have the right style of top for it. I need some more stylish tops to go with my new jewellery finds. Maybe some baggy and higher neck varieties! 

Have you bought any jewellery from eBay recently?

Astor Nail Polish in 70 (75p!)

I'd never heard of the brand Astor until browsing Fragrance Direct a few months ago. To my knowledge, Astor is a budget Spanish brand. I came across the 75p nail polishes, and well, you know me! I just had a buy a couple. The trouble was finding swatches, though, so it was a lot of guess work. This is 70; a cobalt blue. I have to say, the photos aren't showing the true colour of this. It's darker than what's shown! The formula was okay, taking 2-3 coats to become opaque. I do have some bubbling going on, but I think that's down to me, not the polish. These particular Astor nail polishes are 6ml, which is a lot less than other polishes I own, but I don't mind. I've never finished a nail polish anyway, and they're only 75p!

Have you stumbled upon any unfamiliar brands on Fragrance Direct?