If you have magpie-like tendencies, I suggest you look away now, because in all honesty this may be the most amazing thing I have ever seen...
The polish itself is Deborah Lippmann's 'Happy Birthday', and maybe it's just me being a little strange, but I certainly felt like I had something to celebrate upon buying this.
I'm not going to lie, I spent at least half an hour just staring at this in the car after purchasing it in Plymouth last week. I spotted it online a long time ago now, and it's one of those things that you lust after but can never really see yourself owning.
The Deborah Lippmann website describes it as 'party in a bottle' and they could not be more right. There aren't really many colours missing from this mesmerising mix of glitter. It is perhaps slightly heavy on the green, but I've found that with most multi-coloured glitters like this (e.g. Nails Inc's Edinburgh Gate). Unless you like applying glitter to your bare nails, I would recommend applying a base colour. I went for a light nude colour to allow the glitter to be the centre of attention.
The photos really don't do this justice. In the above photo, I applied one coat of the polish and then just dotted glitter over the patches that had been missed with initial application. I was really pleased with how much glitter came out on the brush and it was obvious that the bulk of the polish was glitter, as opposed to cheaper polishes where there seems to be more clear polish than glitter.
I bought this from House of Fraser for £16 as a little holiday treat to myself. Would I usually purchase something so expensive? Probably not. I think it's a difficult one to judge because the DL glitter polishes, in my experience, are much better than most others that I've tried (with the exception of one particular beautiful Nails Inc one) but I would find it hard to part with the £14 that non-glitter polishes cost because it's much easier to find a cheaper dupe for regular colours.
I think this is the sort of polish that you either receive as a birthday/Christmas gift, or buy yourself as a treat, as opposed to being a polish that the masses would go out and buy. Having said that, I would recommend this polish to anyone - I've been wearing it since Friday evening and it hasn't yet chipped and even without a top coat doesn't feel rough to the touch. While it is pricey, I think the quality is obvious and helps to justify the expense. Plus, isn't it just the prettiest thing ever?
Have you ever tried Deborah Lippmann polishes? Are you also a fan of pretty glitters?
Hi guys :) I got back from a week in Cornwall with my family on Saturday and thought I'd share a few photos while I get back into the swing of blogging and writing.
Eden Project, foreign alphabet, wearing a SCARF on our summer holiday, Chiquito Plymouth
Mevagissey, tunnel near Tamar Bridge, Domino the rabbit, Plymouth
Uneeka (Truro), Plymouth Olympic BBC Big Screen, Deborah Lippmann 'Happy Birthday' and 'Glitter in the Air'
I also took some video footage while we were there and combined it with some other photos in the video below.
Will be back soon with proper blogging once again :) Have any of you been on your holidays recently?
I wish I could say that my current mentality of 'OK, it's time to let go and move on' is entirely down to me, but it's not. Last week was pretty bad, and if you scroll through my posts I talked about it a little, but there are two things that I've been thinking about recently.
I'm a firm believer that a song can, in effect, change your life... Friendships and relationships are formed on the basis that two people like the same musician or band, and lyrics can move you in ways that you never expected. To quote Josh Groban (who is a huge inspiration to me/ridiculously talented), "music is what I always turned to when I was feeling a certain way". I can't play music and my singing skills are questionable, but I understand what he meant. Whether it's listening to music or creating it yourself, it's a powerful thing when you need somewhere to go and something to turn to.
This is the sort of song that I always overhear or catch the end of on the radio, but I never know what it is. I'd heard it, but I'd never listened to it. We hear things all the time, but it doesn't mean we're listening. Similarly, things pass by our eyes but sometimes we don't see them. Because of this, I think we all too often lose sight of the bigger picture. People talk about life passing them by without them really noticing anything, and I think it's very much the same thing - it's not like you're not there, living your life, it's that you've managed to stop paying attention to the things that make it worthwhile without even realising you've done so.
I'm sure I don't need to quote any of the lyrics from this song for you to understand why I find it inspiring and encouraging at the moment, but my favourite line is "we only bleed if we're not seen by another" simply because for me, it's true. To quote my favourite book,
"wear your brightest traits on your sleeve, for all to see,
and do your tailoring at home."
And that's OK. It makes sense to do your tailoring at home. It's embarrassing to do your tailoring in public anyway - you can't just fall apart in front of everybody you know in an everyday scenario. The only thing is, sometimes I think you need someone to help you with your tailoring.
Because I have so much spare time at the moment, I've been spending more time at my grandma's house. I was there last Friday doing her dusting while she told me stories. Anybody in our family will know that grandma's house equals storytelling. In fact, one of our biggest 'in-jokes' is that whenever the phrase "when I left school at fourteen and went into the mill..." is spoken, we all know that a story is going to follow.
We talked about a lot last Friday. One of our most common subjects at the moment, amongst a few others, is how similar we can be. My mum has always told me "you take after your grandma" and after a conversation we had recently, I realise now quite how much I do. We both sat and recalled all of the times we were left in charge of something at primary school (and high school/college for me) and it made me realise something that I think I needed to realise.
One of my biggest insecurities has always been the fact that I'm naturally quite capable of being responsible for things and taking on responsibilities that most other people my age have shied away from. I was editor of the school newspaper, I pretty much single-handedly sorted out our entire World Challenge group (and for the past two years have even gone back to my old school on open evenings because it seems they still can't cope without me), I co-organised Children in Need, Red Nose Day, Anti-Bullying Week and World Aids Day fundraising, I ran the Amnesty group and even launched a building at college (that one was just plain weird). As a child, my grandma ran the school library, was responsible for taking money to a bank, generally looked after other kids and, when she started working at 14, was able to get herself into a much higher position than everybody else.
Why is all of this significant? While she was telling me about working her way up to her job, she told me about one other girl who had disliked her because she had a better job than her. My grandma and I haven't exactly been in the same position, but it made me realise that I don't need to be insecure about it, and it's OK to be that sort of person. Somebody important to me once said "you do what you do because you're you" and it's never really been something that I could feel comfortable with. I understand it much more now. People can look at me like I'm weird and find what I do absolutely hilarious all they like, but why should I change something about me that's actually good just because somebody else doesn't feel inclined to do the same? I mean, I met one of my closest friends through the college magazine. Why should I regret doing anything that others don't when it's been so positive for me?
I guess the key to moving on and letting go is accepting things for what they are. Everybody is different and while I might feel comfortable taking on responsibilities, and even enjoy them, others won't. That's fine. We need that balance. If nobody did anything, or if everybody did everything, we'd all be in a huge mess. Being one or the other doesn't make any of us any better than everybody else for it, it just makes us different and mean that our strengths and weaknesses lie in different places. I know for a fact that I've been guilty of forgetting that in the past, and I'm sure I'm not alone in doing so.
I think the song tells us something we all need to remember, "stop looking down at the ground, pick it out of the clouds - no one's gonna
put you down". If you do what makes you happy and you do it well, nobody can have any real justification to have an issue with it.
Which songs inspire you or make you feel happy? Let me know in the comments below and we can all share in the happiness :)
So, somewhere around a month ago I joined in with Louise's 7 things for 7 days. My intial post was here, and I detailed seven things that I wanted to achieve. If you want to read more about it, here's Louise's post for this month :)
A quick update on my aims for July
Learn - I wanted to get myself back into an old routine of teaching myself Swedish. I'm pleased to report that not only have I done this, but I've really made progress (woo!) - see the post before this for more details if you're a language geek yourself.
Be helpful - I wanted to help my grandma out more, but at the time I was extremely limited due to the awful weather. About two weeks ago, my cousin George and I went up and spent our afternoon knee deep in ivy that had been growing all over her garage. Fun stuff. And George, you'll be pleased to know that whipping me in the face with tree bits hasn't had any lasting damage...
Organise - I wanted to sort out and bin all of my unwanted college paperwork. There's nothing else to say about this except for that I got it done.
Finances - I wanted to sort out what I owed my parents following college prom and budget a bit more. I was actually fairly successful at this and managed a whole month with virtually no money at all.
Socialise - I wanted to make at least one plan to see a friend. I went to Sophie's one evening and we puppysat her new puppy Columbus and had a nice catch up :)
Presents - I also wanted to sort out Sophie's birthday present. This got done although I still think I could have done a better job. Hmm.
General admin - From what I listed, I managed to send an email that I'd been meaning to send, sort out the memory on my phone and attempted to organise my blog a bit more. I still need to back up all of the files on my laptop.
This month's seven things
Relax - July was strangely stressful. Even though I currently have absolutely no responsibilities, I was stressed because I'm so used to having things to do. This month I want to properly appreciate what being responsibility-free means for the last time before uni and 'growing up' etc.
Wardrobe- My wardrobe seriously needs sorting through and organising. I've run out of hangers and there are items in there that have been in there for about five years (not good). Now I've finished college, I want to get rid of some of the items that I never wear anymore so that I have room for new clothes in the autumn/winter time.
Write - I had huge ambitions to write more this summer. I used to love writing (both on my blog and creatively) but GCSEs got in the way, then college got in the way, and now I feel like I have no inspiration or writing ability anymore. I want to try and get back into writing a bit more before it's too late.
Let go - A bit of a deep one, but before starting uni there's a lot of emotional 'baggage' that I really want to let go of and move on from. That's all I'm going to say, but if you know me you might have an idea of what I mean.
Create - I also used to make jewellery a lot and it's one of the few things I thoroughly enjoy. Even when I was in Poland last year, I bought some beads and elastic because I wanted to make something. I haven't made anything in a long time, but I want to start creating things again.
Read- I'm halfway through or a quarter of the way through several books, and they need finishing. I also need to stop just reading It's Not Me, It's You over and over again, and read something else instead. At the moment, I have Mark Watson's Bullet Points and Once Vidas (AKA Eleven) to read, as well as the Spanish translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns (this one was a present from my dad, I'm not sure if it was to cheer me up as he gave me it during a pretty crappy time, or just because he liked the book).
General admin - Stop worrying about results day, do that backing-up of files, finish organising drawers, make a plan for continuing with Swedish
So, that's what I want to accomplish throughout August. What are your targets and plans for over the summer?
Seen as I'm spending my summer trying to learn some
Swedish, I thought I'd start keeping a bit of a record of it. If you know me,
you'll know that languages fascinate me. I ordered an actual textbook to work
from this afternoon, so hopefully I'll be able to structure it better soon, but
for now I'm pretty content with how I'm doing things. For the actual vocabulary, I'm using my Byki Swedish app.
It costs £5.49 from the iTunes app store, but you get a fair amount of vocab
(here's a tip - make sure you go into 'downloads' and download the rest of the
vocab that you've paid for).
So far, I've completed 15 of the vocab lists provided by
the app, plus a couple of extra sets of vocab that I compiled myself (food and
colours). So far, one of my main problems is putting 'det' in the wrong part of
sentences. Another is forgetting to put accents on letters. I usually remember
'å' but other accents are usually forgotten unless the pronunciation of
the word is completely clear in my head and I'm aware that there must be an
accent on certain letters.
I gave myself a
massive vocab test this week (it was out of 189, eek!) and got 81%, which I was
happy with. I mainly got things wrong if I hadn't really understood them at the
time that I covered them (i.e. lots of phrases along the same theme - ''your
*blank* is *blank*) and I wasn't great at colours either. I'm hoping that
when the book I ordered arrives, I can properly look into grammar. I have my
201 Swedish Verbs book (tack så mycket, Sophie) but it's literally just that,
so I'd like to figure out some of the rules before I start using the book. I
know from studying Spanish that grammar is usually the barrier that holds you
back from progressing as much as you'd like, so I'm going to spend some time
figuring the grammar out when I can. Overall, I'm
really enjoying being able to see that I've made actual progress. When I've
tried to learn in the past, it's never been something I was able to really
stick at and continue with, so I'm happy with the fact that I've got the time
to make sure it gets done at the moment.
Are you learning Swedish or any other languages at the moment? Share your experiences below! More soon! Vi
ses senare, Rx Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I hate the summer. I really, truly, absolutely hate the summer. They say that summers such as those after leaving school are college are supposed to be the best. Do you know what I've been doing? I've been sitting in the house all day, every day, trying to make plans with people that never amount to anything and realising that the past two years are catching up with me.
I had an awful two years at college. For the most part, I regret going there. Everything was just difficult and when things were really difficult there was pretty much nobody there unless I wanted to see a the counsellor - and when people you know sit pretty much next to her office in their free time, you don't want to see the counsellor.
I used to know someone who was brilliant at being helpful. She taught me a lot and helped me open up to her when I needed someone to talk to. If I saw her now, I find it sad that I'd have to tell her that all of her efforts were in vain. Nobody cares now, so nobody ever knows anything. And it's hard trying to get on with everyday life when there's so much going on inside your head that you can't think straight.
Now I have nothing keeping me busy or distracted, it's all hitting me, and it's fairly serious.
This past week has been awful. I stayed up until 3am yesterday. I wasn't thinking or even visibly upset, my head was just completely clouded over. Today has been much the same. I just don't know how I can possibly process everything that's happened without someone being there.
Friends, they're all busy, and family are too. There's no room for me to once more be 'the one with the problem'. I'm always the one with the problem but I can't help it. It's not like I'm all of a sudden sad or upset, it hasn't gone away since Christmas 2010, it's just that some things happen and make it obvious. I know people have lost their patience with me, I know people can't be bothered with me anymore. I don't know what I'm supposed to do or say to explain.
If you find any sense in all of that, then you're a better person than I am.
And I'm sorry if that was miserable to read, but I needed to say it.
If you haven't heard of the Keel's Simple Diary, then you probably fit into one of two categories: 1) you are totally brilliant at keeping an up-to-date diary of your own accord, or 2) you have no interest in diary-keeping.
If you own one, Keel himself suggests that the reason you may not have previously been able to keep a diary is perhaps because: "1) Not every day is very eventful. 2) It actually takes a lot of discipline (regarding 1 even more so). 3) In retrospect, many find what they have written quite embarrassing." All three of these things are problems I have encountered when keeping a diary
I happened to land upon the Simple Diary while browsing Amazon. Initially, I looked into Wreck This Journal after watching a YouTube video of what to do with it. Great, I thought, but definitely not for somebody who cringes at torn paper, paper with anything other than pen on it, paper with bent edges, etc etc. I followed a ton of recommendations and eventually ended up at the Simple Diary. Just the word 'simple' appeals to me greatly. Who doesn't like simplicity?
I instantly liked the concept. Keel has clearly thought out each aspect of the book, so much so that when you open it up, you have a card congratulating you on purchasing it and giving you an almost horoscope-like description of your personality. For example, I bought mine in lime green (I'll be honest, it was the cheapest one on Amazon at the time), suggesting "you are content despite your grand aspirations" and "you are a sincere person in many aspects". Of course, these statements are fairly vague, but from the moment you open the book you are encouraged to look deeply into yourself and who you really are, a theme that carries throughout.
In short, Keel's Simple Diary is (in my opinion, of course) a diary for lazy people. You fill in the date, choose an adjective or metaphor to describe your day, explain why in less than two lines and make a couple more choices over random factors in your life. What I find so great about this book is that by giving you seemingly random choices, it truly makes you stop and think hard about which of the three describes your day. Is my day a) crucial, b) open-minded, or c) immature?Well, I had something important happen today but I also had a stupid argument... Etc etc. Each day also comes with a quote. For example, the first day in mine says "If it's not there, there is nothing to find out."
So, overall, why do I like it? Well, I guess it's because there are a lot of things present that I personally find appealing - the positives far outweigh the negatives and for around £7 I think it's definitely worth it. I know I've spent £10+ on notebooks that never got used for diaries after all, so it's not like it's a waste of money. There's also a volume two if you find that you really love it but have run out of pages.
To sum up...
✓ Great, new concept Simple layout Focus on thinking about your day properly Luxurious feel Fun factor present Range of colours so not gender-specific Great for people who want a record of their life, but not necessarily in-depth or that covers absolutely everything Allows you to sum up your day and think about how things have balanced out Probably great for people who have lots of thoughts and feelings but don't keep diaries because they struggle to actually turn their thoughts into sentences Oh, and according to the back of the book, a portion of the proceeds are being donated to reforestation... that's always good
✘ Elaboration on each day is limited Could be argued that some day choices make no sense or would 'scare off' those who weren't necessarily hugely deep thinkers
If you have any questions, fire away in the comments below!
