The Routine: Skin

Moving to London by train meant I had to be picky with what I brought so I thought it would be the perfect time to give you an insight into my skin care and makeup routine.

The morning set: After showering I use this Coola sun care sample for extra protection then the REN Day Cream and Elemental Herbology Facial Hydrator alternately to moisturise and leave a smooth surface for makeup to sit on. Benefit's The Porefessional I use to blur imperfections on my nose and the So Susan Lip Cushion I put on first thing to start hydrating my incredibly dry and chapped lips.

At night once I have cleansed using the L'Occitane Cleansing Gel I use the matching toner on a cotton pad to cool my face then massage in the Roger & Gallet Huile Sublime followed by the REN Night Cream. The Blistex Intensive Moisturiser stays on the lips throughout the night and really does work to help repair damaged lips.
When I wake up after this my skin looks incredibly healthy and none of my normal dry patches are dry at all, however I am still looking for a morning moisturiser which is really effective for dry skin so if you've found one I'd love to know!

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Glam Polish Coven

This is the best red polish ever!

The best way I can describe it is as a holographic polish where all of the sparkle is red, it is just amazing!

This is two coats and it is incredibly easy to apply. This is my first Glam Polish but it certainly won't be my last.

This is a proper power manicure- wear this on the day you want to get your own way.

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Fan Brush Gradient

Fan brushes are the ones that come in packs of nail art brushes and nobody really uses. I decided to use one to create a sort of marbled gradient. I generously dotted four different colours up my nail and then swept the fan brush side to side moving from the top to the bottom of the nail.

I put down a white base to make the colours pop and if you do this you have to be really careful to get colour over the whole nail.

I will definitely be trying this again, although the clean up is a little traumatic- make sure you put tape on the sides of your fingers before you start! What do you think of this?

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Packing my bags for London

Just incase you haven't heard yet, I'm moving to London on Saturday to start my new job. This is my first proper office job and I have had to reboot my wardrobe after 4 yrs of casual living which including buying a new bag! I bought a stunning brown leather bag for a third of the original price at TK Maxx and then set about buying mini essentials to fill it.

After watching Vivianna Does Makeup's What's in my bag video this week I picked up an antibacterial hand gel from Carex moisturising to try and protect my hands a little more and Tisserand De-Stress aromatherapy roller ball for the tube journey home at the end of the day. I also chose the Revlon Highlighting Palette in Bronze Glow to add a healthy glow to my complexion (I use this under my foundation ala Goss Makeup Artist) and the Rimmel Exaggerate eye shadow primer as I needed a cheap primer. The mouthwash is for use after lunch (I don't like gum) and I will fill it up from a big bottle when I run out.
I did buy the Superdrug own Vitamin E eye cream and Radiance moisture cream- under no circumstances should you buy these; they both have large amounts of glitter in (presumably to add radiance, but it's way over the top) and the eye cream dries to a chalky texture which is particularly unpleasant. I'm not too annoyed because they were so cheap but I'm going to be saving my pennies to buy a high quality eye cream and moisturiser and I'l make sure I'm shopping somewhere I can test a little bit for texture first!

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London baby!

This weekend I move to London to start my new job so I have been packing like crazy and trying to do some extra nail art to schedule for next week because I will be too busy to blog. A while ago I got the Moyou London plate which has stamping patterns linked to London on it and thought this was the perfect time to try it out.

The base polish here is a fantastic Nails Inc that I have had in my collection for months and never tried. There is just the perfect amount of glitter, you can see it through the cream base and it is opaque in two coats. I give you Nails Inc Grove Cottages:

The patterns included are the tube map, the skyline and a beefeater.

Yesterday I also discovered the app Citymapper which is just incredible- if you are visiting London you need this app, it offers you multiple different ways of transport between points and tells you how long it will take and how much it will cost as well as many other cool features-genius!

I had fun making this little tribute to my new home city (slightly over excited!) if you have any great suggestions for things to do/eat in London please let me know.

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My Ten Friends: Carbon Based Life Form

I picked up My Ten Friends Carbon based Life Form in a sale somewhere and then didn't wear it for a while until I saw it this weekend and decided to try it out on top of Orly Country Club Khaki. This is two coats and the awesome blue reflection you can see is due to spectacular amounts of blue shimmer int his polish.

I like how holo all of the glitters in this polish are- it really sparkles, but the big hexagons were reluctant to come out and frankly I think it looks better without them.

I would wear this polish to an event where I needed less flashy nails but still wanted some glitter and I would carefully apply it to avoid the large glitter pieces entirely.

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Farewell Pocket Money Polishes

The sad news from this weekend is that Charlie is retiring Pocket Money Polishes to move forward with other parts of her life. I love my collection of glitter toppers from her and will treasure them all the more now. I thought I'd do a little mani to show off two of mine.

The background gradient here is Sinful Colours Cinderella to Blue by You, this also has an added change from pink shimmer to green shimmer which would not photograph!

The two PMPs are Firework and Yellow Submarine. I love Yellow Submarine the most :)

And mattified, gradients always look good mattified. Farewell Pocket Money Polish, you will be missed.

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