Autumn Edit: Polishes

Hello! So I'm coming to you with a little Autumn-type series, and today's post is all about polishes! I loooove the autumn beauty colour palette, gorgeous deep reds and purples. I think there's something really dark about autumnal makeup, and I love it!

So I have a selection of polishes in different colours, these are my favourite colours to wear on my nails in the autumn!

Reds:

L-R: Barry M Red Wine, Nails inc Hampstead Heath, Nails inc Eaton Terrace.

 L-R: Barry M Red Balck, Nails in Savile Row.

Okay, so starting with reds, I don't tend to ever paint my nails a bright pillarbox red, I tend to go for these slightly more muted reds instead, I don't know, there's something about a more browny red, or a plummy red that I feel is a bit more autumnal! Red black by Barry M is my absolute all-time favourite nail polish, I lovelovelove it!! It's the perfect shade for me, it goes with everything, it looks so lovely on the nails, I can't get enough of it, and I love that it's in season!!

Purples:

L-R: Models Own Purple Rain and Purple Grey.
I love purpley shades, especially deep, dark purples like this, normally brands only do a couple of purples, usually a lilac and a bright purple, but models own seem to do a really nice variety of different purple shades, which is why both of mine are from there! Although I have seen a rather nice deep, rich purple in the new Barry M jelly shine range, look out boots...

Blues:

 L-R: Barry M Navy, Nails inc Tudor Way, Barry M Indigo.
I feel like navy is a real classic when it comes to nail polish, for me it really oozes style and class. My absolute favourite navy is this Barry M polish, it doesn't have a name on the bottom of the bottle, but it's just the navy shade that they do. Again, I've also seen that they do a really nice navy shade in the jelly shine collection too! And I think navy is a really lovely colour for autumn too, with all the different colours going on in the season it's a nice toned down colour that means you can wear all the colour you want in your outfit without being too over the top.

Greens:

L-R: Barry M Racing Green, Nails inc (unknown), Models Own Grace Green.
There are two types of green I like to wear in the autumn: teal and khaki. Khaki is such a big colour this season, it's absolutely everywhere, so obviously you need a khaki nail polish! I think teal is such a beautiful colour too, it's so rich! I have this slightly shimmery one my Barry M, and then the Nails inc one is an opaque shade that I got free in an In Style magazine I think about this time last year, the name has fallen off so I'm not sure what the shade is called!

Blacks:

L-R: Barry M Black, E.L.F Metal Madness, Topshop Sketch.
Surprisingly this is the only Topshop polish I own! I absolutely love all the colours they do, I've nearly gone crazy on them on more than one occasion, but for some reason I've managed to stay quite restrained? Anyway, I love this charcoal colour, all these colours are really simple, they go with absolutely everything and always look effortlessly cool!

So there we have it! My ever-growing collection of autumn nail polishes, I have my eye on a few colours from the new Essie range, and as we've just established, the Barry M jelly shine range too!

What are your favourite shades of nail polish to wear in the autumn? Are there any that I need to add to my collection?
Eleanor x

Graze Box!

Hello! I am here with something completely new; The graze box! I have seen these advertised for a while now in magazines on the inserts that come inside, and to be honest I thought they looked disgusting, the pictures don't do them any justice at all, and I just threw them away without a second thought, until.... 2 weeks ago I saw a blog post talking about a graze box, out of curiosity I read on, mainly because in the pictures at the top of the post the snacks that came in the box looked delicious!

Anyway I was enticed with a free box to try out and signed up, and this is the box I was sent!

I can say, after eating them all that they were all delicious! They're in such convenient box sizes too, perfect for popping a few into your bag to keep you going through the day, I've been taking mine to uni with me! I am raving about these to absolutely everyone, so obviously I couldn't not write a post on it!

It's a really great system they have going, you choose the day it's best for your box to be delivered, and you can choose whether you want only super duper healthy snacks that are low in calories (all of them are pretty low though to be honest). They do over 100 different snacks and you can have a look through them all and click on any of them that you know you won't like and they'll never send those to you, so you can avoid nasty, unwanted surprises! And then when you get your box you can rate the snacks you receive and you'll get some more than others in future boxes based on your ratings!

You also get one of these in every box, they tell you all about the nutritional values of all the things you've been sent, which I think is a really nice touch!

And finally, a treat for everyone!

Graze were kind enough to send me this coupon code which can be used by an unlimited amount of people, so I urge you all go go out and try it for free! I did and I absolutely love it! With this coupon you will receive your first graze box for free, and you can choose to unsubscribe after that and they will never charge you a penny! Or if you choose to stay subscribed, you'll also automatically get your 5th box for free too! You do have to enter your card details to order the box, which put me off a little bit, but I can promise that they don't take any money and they don't even charge postage for any of their boxes, there is no commitment so if you choose to unsubscribe they won't charge you anything!

Honestly, how can you go wrong? You get nice food delivered to your house for free, and you don't have to feel guilty about eating it because it's healthy! Definitely worth checking out, so go do it now!!! It's really easy, just go on the graze website and enter my code for your free box!

If you really like your box and want to continue receiving them, they're just £3.98 and you get 4 snacks in each box, so I don't think they're too expensive at all! And they don't charge postage which \I think is really nice!

Have you tried graze box? What do you think of them? If you use my code let me know in the comments and tell me what you were sent!
Eleanor x

Glossybox October 2012

Hello! I'm here today with an exceptionally late Glossybox post, no doubt my next one will be appearing in a week or so's time (if I post it on time that is!) anyway, straight into it, here's what I got sent this month!

Anatomicals Don't Just Clean it Woman, Scrub it Body Scrub - This looks really nice, and I don't think I've ever had a body scrub in a beauty box before? So it's quite a nice change to get this sort of product! And I do like my scrubs! I haven't really heard too much about this brand that I can remember, so it's nice to see it in a beauty box, it's a great size too! My only qualm with this is that it's so cheap! Don't get me wrong, I love cheap products, I'm not one to waste my money, and I don't mind the odd cheap product in my beauty boxes, but it seems to me that the products in glossybox are getting cheaper and cheaper, which I don't appreciate when I signed up for a beauty box filled with LUXURY brands!

Dermalogica 3 Step Day and Night Kit - I do like the fact that a whole little kit has been included in this, because it gives you a chance to really try out the products in a brand and see how they work together. Again, a good size sample! It seems glossybox have sorted out last month's problem of tiddly product sizes!

Skinetica Anti-Blemish Solution - Another pretty generous product size, and another unknown brand for me! So far so good, again though, quite a cheap product, come on glossybox! Give me a taste of the high end!

Yves Rocher Moisturising Cream Lipstick in Couleurs Nature - YES!!! I was OVER THE MOON to see this in my box!! I received a Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Mascara sample in 's box, and I absolutely loved it (review to follow, I promise!!) So I was really excited to see another of their products in this month's box! This is more of what I would consider a luxury brand, and I got a full sized lipstick! Great stuff glossybox! I have yet to give this a test drive, but I absolutely LOVE the colour of it, it's like a muted burgundy, such a beautiful shade for autumn and winter! I'm really pleased to have got this (if you couldn't tell...) and it gives me a little faith that glossybox could get better again, come on! We know you can do it!

What did you think of this month's favourites? What do you think of getting cheaper products in a luxury beauty box?
Eleanor x

Warehouse Sale

Hello! Before I start, I just want to post a quick disclaimer, last time I went to Warehouse and got some things in the sale (post here) I handed in my CV and actually got a job! I just want to be honest and say that while yes, I DO work for warehouse, I'm only a sales assistant and I am NOT being paid or sponsored to do posts or anything like that (they don't even know I have a blog), these really are just things I see while I'm in work and buy at the end of my shift haha! But I just wanted to be honest about that because, well.. why wouldn't I be?

 big cat print scarf £20 £12

 night sky scarf £20 £12

 pastel marble scarf £22 £15

flower ombre scarf £20 £12

mustard satchel £32 £25

black skinny belt £12 £7, crocodile print skinny belt £12 £7

To be honest Warehouse was never somewhere that I'd usually shop, I think partly because it's a little more expensive in there. But I really love some of the clothes in there at the moment, I'm having to restrain myself because I'm in danger of spending more than I make on the shift! haha!

I've had my eye on that mustard satchel for a while, it's such a lovely colour for autumn! And I love all these scarves!! The big cat one has a pattern on it that's made up of tiger, lion and leopard faces, I thought that was pretty cool! The scarves are all a bit of an odd length though, I tend to like to just drape mine over the back of my neck so it falls down at the front on either side, but these are a little bit long to do that with - they reach my knees for god's sake!! Maybe it's not the scarves, I'm just too short haha! And finally I absolutely love these belts, apart from the fact they've got everyone's favourite rose gold hardwear, the clasp is really unusual, the part with the belt holes is made of metal too, it's difficult to explain but the fastening is a bit different and it's quite interesting I think!

Have you done any good sale shopping recently? What do you think of what I got?
Eleanor x

Essie Bargains!

Hello! I saw the Essie polish-for-£1.99 on the fragrance direct website on a few different blog posts about a month ago I think, I had a look but they'd been pretty much wiped out of the ballet slippers and mademoiselle polishes everyone was posting about, and were only left with a few orangey and green shades that didn't really take my fancy, even for £1.99.
Anyway, then, about a week ago I checked them again on a whim just to see whether they had any left at all, and it looks like they'd restocked! I was able to get my hands on all the shades people had been hauling on their blogs and I was so excited! So obviously I put in an order right away...

In order, T-B, L-R: apricot cuticle oil £2.50, power clutch, ballet slippers, a crewed interest, muchi muchi and sugar daddy £1.99 each

I know what you're thinking.. I think I like milky pink polishes, maybe that combined with ESSIE FOR £1.99 made me a little silly... Most of the polishes I got are from the diffusion line, with the only exception being power clutch, meaning that one has a thinner brush than the others (which I'm sure everyone knows by now) I'm yet to try any of these but they all look so pretty - and similar haha!

Have you picked up any of the essie bargains from fragrance direct? Which do you think is the nicest colour I got?
Eleanor x

SheSaid Beauty Box October 2012

Hello! I'm back with another shesaid beauty box post today, so I'm just going to get straight into it!

Cellnique Advanced Bio Renewal Masque - I think this is the product in thins month's box that I'm most excited about, it's a "scrub masque" with fruit enzymes and acids, which just makes me think of the Alpha-H liquid gold chemical exfoliant. This is not the exact same sort of product I don't think, but it deeply cleanses for fresher and healthier skin, which I like the sound of! I do think that this sample is quite small, again, this is one of my pet peeves with beauty boxes, when they send you samples the same size that you could get for free at a beauty counter in a department store. Nonetheless, it IS a luxury product and is quite expensive ($51 for 50ml) and it's a brand and product I've never heard before, so I suppose it's good in those respects.

B.liv Off With Those Heads - Oooh interesting! This product is designed to easily remove blackheads, I don't like blackheads at all, and whenever I see one, I'm all over it, I have to squeeze, I can't help myself! This might actually be a better method of dealing with them, as I don't think squeezing them is very good for your face! haha! I do think the size of this is a bit measly, it's absolutely tiny! Granted it's a more expensive product, but come on! Hopefully I'll have enough to give this a proper test drive and be able to form an opinion!

Herbacin Wuta Kamille Hand Cream - This has come at the right time, I'm in the market for a new hand cream at the moment, after trying the Balance Me one and not being swept off my feet, so hopefully this will be what I'm looking for! I do have slight reservations, and that's only because of the packaging, the tin reminds me on the Nivea creme little blue tins (it's exactly the same other than the aesthetic design) and I really don't like the Nivea creme, so I don't have really high hopes for this, but I shouldn't judge a product by it's packaging (I have to say I do like the tin and the packaging and design, just not the product it reminds me of!) and I will give this a fair try, it's quite cheap, which would make it even better if it was a winner and I want to repurchase!

Biao Beauty Rejuvenating Night Creme - "reveal a youthful and more luminous skin tone" I am well and truly on board. I can't wait to try this out, I'm all about the luminising! A luxury product, an unknown brand and product, this ticks all the boxes, except again, it really is quite a small size product which I'm disappointed about because I would really like to give this a thorough testing!

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion - I'd be really happy to see this if I didn't already have one! I also thought that it was a little stingy for them to include a travel size, considering how cheap the full size product is anyway! But I have to say, I do really like this product, so I'm actually glad to have a travel size I suppose! Like I said, a little bit of a cheap brand to include, and it's quite a well known brand and product as well, whereas I like my beauty boxes to help me discover new things that I like.

Myvitamins Pure Green Tea Extracts - I actually thought these were quite an interesting thing to include, I wish I had got a different variety, only because I'm allergic to caffine and so I can't try these at all! But my sister was more than glad to take them off my hands and she's going to give them a try. They're an interesting product to try out, and not something I think you'd normally think of trying, so it's nice to be given them as a bonus product!

So overall this month I think SheSaid included some really great products in the boxes, lots of brands and products I haven't heard of before, and higher end luxury products. The only thing I have been disappointed with this month is the size of the products that I was sent, when so many of the products in my box are such small sample sizes it's hard to see that the box has a collective value of the money you paid for it. I mean, the box looks a little empty doesn't it? 2 sample sachets, a tiddly little tube and a teeny tub should not, in my opinion, contribute as 3 of the products I pay for in my beauty box. So that's my only critique really, I want more of the products I'm sent next time! Maybe that's just the greedy hoarder in me? But I do like to see that I'm getting value for my money with these things, otherwise what's the point in staying subscribed?

What do you think of the products I got? Do you think beauty boxes should give bigger sized products?
Eleanor x

Back to Uni Haul

Hello! Summer is now over and Semester 1 has begun, bringing with it a pile of reading! Starting back at university is a very strange time, I feel obliged to buy an entirely new wardrobe and I get very excited about stationary and organisation.... That's right, I'm a self-confessed stationary addict. I actually have been since I was very very young, and now the beginning of a new term gave me the excuse I need to go out and get lots of pretty new pens and post-it notes!
So last week I took a trip to muji to stock up...

double ended pink, orange, yellow, green and blue highlighters: £1.25 each, 0.5 orange, blue and black gel ink pens: £1.50 each, key ring memo block: 99p, small page markers pack: £1.50

First of all, I've got to say, I love all things muji! (I'm blaming my spend-happy moment on the arrival of my student loan and the recent spending ban that I've been on) I'm definitely going to need all of these things for uni....

I'm going to do a post in the next few weeks on my university essentials and maybe one on organisation tips for students? Probably most specifically humanities students because that's my area of expertise! So look out for that and let me know if there's anything you'd like me to include or if there are any questions I could answer in that post!

Do you get as excited as I do about purchasing stationary for the new term? Have you bought anything good for going back to school that I might like?
Eleanor x