Better Late Than Never....

Some of you die-hard Pale Skin Make Up fans (lol) may remember that a while back I won tickets to The Clothes Show Live. I did film a fashion show of The Britain's Next Top Model finalists, however youtube decided to go all Naomi Campbell on me and block my video in 183 countries. Well good news! I finally fixed the issue and now it's available to watch in HD.... check it out folks!

Snap, Crackle and Pop?!

Gone are the days of only having one possible finish with nail polishes. The crackled nail effect has been around for a little while now, and perhaps one of the most noted brands that have done this is OPI. I was lucky enough to receive their Gold Shatter nail polish as part of the Elle goodie bag from the Clothes Show, for which I paid £2 for and got around £30 worth of products essentially for free. Not to mention a tonne of Elle Magazines! To buy this normally however, it would set you back £11 plus postage if like me, you don't live near an OPI stocklist.

I first applied my trusty collection 2000 basecoat, followed by 2 coats of a black Barry M nail polish. I should say that normally I would never wear a black nail polish on it's own against my pale skin, as I find it incredibly draining. However, given I was pairing it with a gold polish, I felt black would be the best option as not that many colours would work with such a bold top coat.

After letting my black nails set for a good 20 minutes so that they were touch-dry, I applied the gold overlay. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and was fascinated to see the polish literally break away from it's itself infront of my eyes. However, I noticed some nails struggled to separate and had started to dry with just one split down the middle, so I had to push some of the polish away myself in order for it to give the crackle effect. This was a little disappointing, as on my thumb in particular... it had really worked well, yet a couple of my nails had hardly moved so the results were a little uneven.


Overall, I am not sure whether I like this product or not. It's not what I would typically go for within a nail polish look, however it's always fun to try new things and different effects. I think it's definitely down to personal taste whether this look is for you or not. As for the price point, £11 is quite steep however I think you can definitely tell within the quality of the brush and the way the bottle is designed also, it feels more luxe that my regular high street bottles that's for sure! This is definately a product for those who like to mix things up.

Interested in buying this polish? You can find it here

How I Store My Make Up!

Recently, I've been re-arranging my room. It's no secret that I love my make up, and over the years I seem to have acquired quite alot of it! From palettes to polishes, eye shadows to lipglosses... where on earth do I keep them all so they are all in one place and organised?

Well, take a look!.....

Firstly, I use a multi-draw storage box to keep the majority of my products, which are organized according to what part of the face they are for... i.e a "Lips" draw and a "Face" draw, for foundations and powders. I realise this makes it look like I own an alarming amount of make up, but infact this draw stands at less than a meter high and is fairly lightweight (something I was eternally thankful for when moving between/out of my uni accommodation!).  As you can also see, I keep a clear glass case on top for any extras (mainly along the lines of Hairspray, handcreams and anything else that's generally too bulky to keep in the draws).


Here is the contents of the 6 draws as they currently stand...

 
More recently, I also decided I really wanted a separate brush and nail polish holder, preferably a clear plastic one. I have seen so many bloggers and youtubers with them, which made me want them even more as they fit pretty much any room and any colour scheme. I got the brush holder from muji for around £8 including postage. The nail polish holder I bought from Amazon for around £13.

Remember The Clothes Show post I did? (If not, go check it out.. it's about 3 posts back!) well I ended up with some really lovely carrier bags which I decided to use to my advantage and create my own little "Nail Shelf"... with the addition of some Dior perfume to keep the polishes company.

And that pretty much concludes how I store my make up! How do you store yours?

The Clothes Show Live (Part 1)

I was lucky enough to win 2 tickets to The Clothes Show Live, courtesy of Sleek Make-up, after entering a competition on their facebook page. I won the tickets on the Tuesday (finding out on the Wednesday after I was curious who had won so checked their facebook page and saw it was me!) and on the Saturday found myself at the show, alongside my fellow beauty bloggin' cousin Vicky. 

Although I had been aware of TCSL for many years now, it is not something I knew a great deal about. I was especially flabbergasted when I checked the website and saw there would be 400 individual retailers at the show... mainly in the beauty catagory! It may sound daft, but I never imagined it was about more than just clothes and fashion.

As we made our way into the NEC in Birmingham, we first came across the beauty stalls. Not like a market stall thankyou very much - huge, 20 foot sparkly bottles of nail varnish, double decker buses doing facials, rows and rows of products in every colour possible, treatments and a pink carpet covering the entire NEC to walk around on. Saying it was a feast for the eyes would be a massive understatement!

Our first mission was to find the Sleek counter to inform them we were here. As we did so, a lady came and shook our hands and gave me and Vicky a goodie bag each (the full details will be in the second part of this blog!). All I can say is we screamed - literally. 

Silly me for thinking that we would be leaving Brum with just one goodie bag. Oh no no no no NO! Practically every stall had their own goodie bags with insane offers to match, such as Barry M and Models Own both offering £70 worth of products in a gift bag for just £10.

It wasn't just the freebies and the dreamlike deals that was an enjoyable part of our day. Firstly, we happened to come across the Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model catwalk. Yep that's right, the actual finalists from the show were walking right infront of us. See the full video I recorded here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdRJlrP2O_s&feature=plcp


I have never witnessed a professional catwalk show before and it was a real eye opener. These girls were uber confident, and it was so refreshing to see many of them had porcelain skin, no fake tan required.The clothes and overall styling was gorgeous.

After our goodie bag bonanza and the fashion show, we then watched many celebrities talk about the brands they were promoting at the show, from fashion lines to the good old Stylofile. I managed to get a clip of Amy Childs talking (my cousin is a huge TOWIE fan, I am not advocating the look in any way!) which may interest some of you out there who also watch the show.

As much as I find it insane she is the same age as me, and obviously I am not a fan of the whole orange/fake look.... I definitely admired her personality and she was very entertaining. Her fashion range was also really impressive, with the shorter sparkly dress one of the models had on being my favourite piece.

The chat between Caryn Franklin and VV Brown was perhaps the most interesting of the day, as Caryn talked about the importance of networking and social media, all whilst looking effortlessly cool in her outfit. I swear I have never come across a more stylish lady in my whole life! She then introduced VV who talked about being a musician and how she was scouted on a plane to New York by a top modelling agency. I found the whole discussion really inspiring, both as a designer and as a beauty blogger.

 

Finally, we watched a live hair demo by Lee Stafford and his "Staffettes". Again, I was really taken aback by how down to earth and cool he was. He came onstage and gave away loads of his products, and had great interaction with the audience. He also happily posed with people at his stall, including Vicky which made her day, as she loved him on Celebrity Scissor Hands.

 

All in all, I had an absolutely fantastic day... it truelly exceeded my expectations. It was tough on my back and neck which still kill from carrying so much all day without really stopping.... but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I have to warn you that you do need a hardcore love of beauty and fashion to withstand the insane amount of crowds and carrying, however it is totally worth it. I came away from TCSL feeling inspired and fairly overwhelmed at all the gifts I had recieved. Waking up today to write this blog was like waking up on Christmas morning!

Coming Next: Inside TCSL Goodie Bags!!