Friday, May 21, 2010

Shiny, shiny

Today was payday :)

I tried to place an order @ELF cosmetics; mineral foundation, the blush that's supposed to be like Nars 'Orgasm', and some blotting papers.  I signed into Paypal to pay and then the site crashed }: -[

So I went to Boots this evening instead:

Instead of the Elf blotting papers- which were really hard to find on their site- on the drop down lists it's called "Professional Shine Eraser", 50 sheets for £1.50.  Apparently they're double-sided which I've never head of before..

I spotted instead Boots (own brand) 'Skin Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets' 50 sheets for £3.49 (so more than double the Elf price, meh).  I haven't seen this range before, so will be interested to try the sheets.  In the packaging you have to tear out the sheets like good old Papier Poudre-- the first brand of blotting papers I used.  La Senza used to stock the Rachel colour one for £1.00; but then stopped, and now I've stopped looking in there for it (I don't get my undies from there!)

Yes I have used many a brand of blotting paper.  One of my favourites used to be the one I could get in Chinatown, which I have no recollection of the name- I don't think there was any English writing on the packaging :P   but again the supply of these seems to have dried up...

For me ANY blotting papers are an absolute handbag essential.  No matter what combination of oily-skin cleanser & moisturiser I use in the morning I never seem to manage to make it thru the day feeling 'fresh', or to get home without washing / cleansing my face being the first thing on my mind...

REVIEW: Boots SkinClear Oil-Absorbing Sheets
50 sheets for £3.50


The pack is a slim, small size ideal for slipping into you bag or even pocket to have handy at all times.  The pack states that the size of the sheets themselves are 80mm x 55mm / 3" x 2" and the package is only a few mm bigger than that on all sides.
On opening the pack you get to see that the sheets are like pages in a book that you have to tear out before you can use.  There is a protective white sheet at the front and the back.  

The sheets themselves appear slightly pink.  They are "impregnated with salicylic acid to actively help prevent spots", which I guess isn't my main concern --Just get rid of the oil!-- however it's a useful side-effect.  Salicylic acid appears pretty low down on the list of 'ingredients'- the main one is talc, naturally; followed by kaolin. 

It may not be immediately obvious which side is the blotting one to the eye - but to touch one feels like it has a very finely milled powder. Like all good sheets they change colour  / go translucent to show you just how greasy you are- or are no longer! 

Overall I guess no matter how Amazing these might turn out to be, I still think I'd like to try the Elf ones by virtue of their lower price point.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Return

Here I am back again, and much the same as ever.
Jerry get me a camera all of my own for my birthday- Nikon s4000
 Nikon Coolpix S4000 12 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Vibration Reduction (VR) Zoom and 3.0-Inch Touch-Panel LCD (Black)
I really like the way it looks and feels- on the back it only has two buttons :) while the screen is a touch screen.

My sis was here in Mcr for a flying visit- literally as she went to watch the Flight of the Conchords last night with friends. I've never watched them on Tv, turned off by comedy songs by too many Radio 4 comedy shows.

She had 'Capricciosa' and I tried the Quattro Formaggi



Monday, January 25, 2010

Update

On Friday we went to both Pizza Express (half price offer, I had the spicy Etna!), and then met friends in Sand Bar. I tried some of the Lindemans beers, my favourite was the raspberry aka Framboise one.

Onto the fashion part: Laura had the sailor coat I mentioned previously! She said she saw them in Topshop, but they all got bought by swindlers to sell on eBay at a profit, so when they were back in store she snapped one up, but they only had a size 12- bit big on her- but she says she likes it cuz she can pretend that it really belonged to a (man) sailor and she's pinched it.

In other news my sis visited last weekend (15th Jan), for a belated Christmas. I got an Anna Lou brooch! Not the robin (sold out), but a yacht-
*god I really need to get the hang of taking pictures with this camera...

apparently she & Jerry had been emailing each other- her asking him if there was anything in particular I'd like :>

Jerry received a Cath Kidston cowboy scarf... he hasn't worn it yet

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What I wore today

In the course of my internet browsing whilst in work I happened to hear about this Flickr group:
What I wore today (drawings only), on the Diskant site; another link in the six-degrees of separation from the wonderful Gemma Correll
This may just be the inspiration for me to pick up a pencil again! Especially seeing as how while Kate was here at the weekend we hooked up the scanner again for her--[however it is ginormous on the desk and a pain to use when the printer has no ink in it].

Thursday, January 7, 2010

2010 wardrobe essentials no. 1: the white shirt

Wardrobe essentials for 2010


Hmm, the white shirt. This is not an item I have in my wardrobe already, infact I don't think I have any blouses... I think mainly because I'm a D cup, petite so it's difficult to find one that fits without gaping buttons!
Also I think I particularly don't go for WHITE blouses as they remind me too much of school uniform. I don't have any other white clothes so I imagine it would be a pain to launder them and not have them end up looking greyish.
Furthermore I like to wear c o l o u r f u l underwear, so I'd either have to look trampy with a jazzy bra visible under the said white shirt, or invest in white/ nude underwear which won't show so badly...

However I did quite like Kelly Reilly/ "Anna Travis's" white shirt style in 'Above Suspicion' which has been on TV these past few nights. Maybe if I actually had a job where it mattered what I looked like/ wore I might consider taking a few style leaves out of her book



Wednesday, December 30, 2009

XXL real red

For Christmas I was off for six days in a row :>
Jerry was off on the 25th & 27th :<

So what have I been getting up to with myself...?

One thing was colouring my hair. Back in October I used Schwartzkopf Live Color XXL Real Red on my brown hair.
Result:
I'm on the left- arf!

This time I prelightened beforehand

... yes I had a beer- it was Christmas! ...That's also why I'm wearing Jerry's snazzy sweater :>


and now the result is



I think I might use a Stargazer semi permanant dye to keep it bright.

I've also been wasting a lot of time over on Polyvore.com


Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas presents

Jerry buys the best presents!

I was only just mentioning how much he hates my duffle coat... well, he got me a new one! From the Petite range at Topshop. Unfortunatley he got a size too small (better than too big right?) so he's hopefully exchanging it today :)

Earlier in the week I also saw a lady at the busstop wearing this, also from the Petite range ...
On the reverse it has a beautiful sailor square collar, like Japanese schoolgirls... maybe if they don't have my size in the duffle coat I could exchange for this ?

As I have some time off work I've also been tackling the pile of newspapers & magazines we have in the front room- going through them all for items & pictures to scrapbook. I came across this super sweet, and seasonal robin brooch (Yes I know that the picture is of one on a necklace!)

Anyway here's my first ever Polyvore set, based on my new coat: