Face of the day before yesterday

Face: Benefit You Rebel Lite TM

Studio sculpt concealer

Benetint on cheeks

Laura Mercier loose powder in translucent applied with kabuki

Eyes: My Inglot freedom palette - serioiusly check this brand out, can't recommend the eyeshadows enough.

Rimmel sexy curves mascara

Lips: Benetint

Natural Collection Moisture Shine lipstick in Pink Mallow

OOTD:

White Vest Top (just seen): Gap

Denim Shirt: Primark

Grey leggings: American apparel

Blue wristband: Brazilets

Pink beads: From a market in Sevenoaks, Kent

The toenail saga leads to falsehood

So to begin with, a bit of background info on the toenail saga:

When I was but a wee 17 year old lass, back in the day, I went on holiday to Newquay after my A-Levels, and naively thought it would be a great idea to wear flipflops to a club. Long story short, I got trodden on by some stiletto-wearing bitcheroo, which damaged my nail bed and the nail turned black and fell off, and has been an iffy excuse for a nail ever since. But slowly but surely it grew back...

Then, back in 2007 when I was living in France, I went to a salsa club, again wearing flipflops, and the aforementioned toenail ripped off because my partner stepped forward at the wrong time and caught his shoe underneath my nail... urrrrrrrrrgggghhhh. So, it grew back all ingrown and minging and I had to have an operation on it and then it got infected, and I had to have 3 more operations on it, finally having the entire bloody thing removed last summer.

It grew back a bit dodge, but it was there all the same... until last week, when, without warning, it just fell off again.

So, to get to my original point, I decided I was fed up with having a splendiferously 'unusual' looking toe, and the time came to experiment with ye olde falsies.

The brand I used was Fingrs Dazzle Toez, mainly because they were the only ones I could find in Boots.

So the principle is exactly the same as false finger nails - whack yer glue on, hold it in place for a few ticks while it dries, file it into the shape/length you want it and hey presto. It comes with I think 3 different sized sets for different sized tootsies, and it does come with glue too, I just missed it out of the photo. So far so good...

Sorry for my gross feet, but you can't even tell which one the falsie is (it's the big'un on the left).

So at this stage I was very pleased. But then came the 'wearing shoes' test. Sandals were fine, there was no pain or interference of any sort. But the next night I wore tights and ankle boots and MY GOD did it hurt. It felt like someone had a pair of pliers to my nail all night, trying to yank it out! I left it to calm down overnight but the next day decided I couldn't bare that pain again, so headed for the acetone to soak and remove. And this was where the real trouble started...

After forty mins, yes, FORTY MINS, of soakage, the nail still wasn't budging... Another twenty mins later, I was able to peel off the corners, and the rest felt a little loose, so I pulled. WAAAAAAAAAAAAA I'm squirming just thinking of it. I won't show you a pic of the end result, but it ain't pretty. I'm missing skin, the teeny bit of nail that I had left around the cuticle is gone, and my toe seems kinda permanently dried up and shrivelled from its acetone bath!

NEVER AGAIN!!!

Having said all this, if there have been any good false toenail experiences I'd like to hear about them... this could of course just be my bad toe luck!

xxx

Shabby Chic Appreciation

I love the vintagey, homemade, girly, pretty frilliness of 'shabby chic'. It translates so well to fashion, interiors, craft... When I have my own place this is the sort of style I'd like to decorate in, albeit a more minimalistic interpretation of it than is typical. This is of course assuming I don't have a bloke tagging along - I'm not sure how much he'd approve of the overt femininity of shabby chic!. The floaty cotton and girly lace fabrics, slightly distressed paintwork and vintage furniture marry so nicely with the typical soft colours of this style - off-whites and creams with dusty pinks, cornflower blues and soft lilacs. The feelings this style evokes are all good ones for me - all soft and contented, and happily feminine! So here lies a post dedicated entirely to its charm.

Pictures found on photobucket.com

NOTD, OOTD, FOTD... AVENUE Q!!!

So I went to see Avenue Q last night and it was A-MAZING!!! I was laughing so much I was crying in some parts - a seriously funny show! Anyway, here's what I wore...

Scuse the mess, I was getting ready in a hurry. Ah who'm I kidding, my room is always messy!

The photos are pretty crapulous, but here's my hair and makeup:

Hair is tres uninteresting, just a lose bun at the back with some back combing to stop it being too sleek-looking.

Face: Mix of Benefit You Rebel Tinted Moisturiser and Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation

Mac Studio Sculpt concealer on blemishes

Laura Mercier secret concealer on under-eyes

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

Mac Blush in Pink Swoon

Benefit Dandelion Powder

Eyes: Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Mac e/s Blanc Type

Mac e/s Omega

Mac eye kohl in Smolder

Satin Taupe-esque colour from my Inglot Freedom palette

Vanilla-esque colour from Inglot also

Rimmel sexy curves mascara

Lips: Body Shop Guarana Lip Butter (LE 2007/08ish)

Aaaand, finally, nails:

Bourjois Rose Laque in 13 Rose Lounge

xxx

My new baby pussy cat!

This is Pumpkin. Isn't he cuuuuuuuuuute?! He was my birthday present, cos we always had 2 cats but we had to have one of them put down not long ago, which is was so sad about :( She was only 12, and she had kidney failure. She was such a lovely cat, and as anyone who has animals will know, it's always devestating when you lose one. But this little guy is helping us all get over the loss :D He's almost 3 months old and we've had him since he was 9 weeks. He's practically doubled in size since then! He is SUCH a little pickle, and I am totally in love with him already.

Also, excuse the gross carpet, we're redecorating :)

xxx

Vampires

Ok firstly - Twilight. I was kinda late on the Twilight bandwagon, and I watched the film a couple of months ago, which I absolutely loved, and, like practically every other red-blooded female in existence, fell head over heels for Edward Cullen (aka Robert Pattinson).

Yummyyyyyyyy.

And then after watching the film I went out and bought all 4 books, and devoured them all within a week. This would obviously lead one to believe that I enjoyed them, which would be correct - the story is fab and the characters are easy to relate to and likable (or detestable when appropriate!)

BUT... did anyone else think that in parts it was just really appallingly written?! Especially Eclipse - it just seemed towards the end that the author had run out of steam! It was like, oooo a big fight is brewing, oohh the tension is mounting... oh, no, they're all friends now and everyone lives happily ever after?! Seriously?!

Now don't jump down my throat here - I know that Twilight never claimed to be equal to the great works of Hemingway or Dickens or whatever, but it has been compared to Harry Potter, and IMO the Harry Potter books are MUCH better written.

This isn't to say that Twilight isn't fun to read, and if you're looking for something that's easy-going and doesn't take itself too seriously, has romance, action, the supernatural and teen angst all at the same time, then Twilight is perfect.

Secondly:

RAAAA WHAT A SHOW!!! I am totally addicted. I could go on forever raving about this show, but suffice to say, you HAVE to watch this, it really is tres good. It's set in a world where vampires exist openly and live amongst the normal human population. It's quite dark, there's death, sex, love, blood guts and gore, and it's sooo addictive. Check it out, you will likie.

That's all for now folks, see you soonies,

Maddie x

first blog post ever

hideehi campers. well, there are no campers there yet so saying hi is a little redundant, but maybe one day... anyway... here i am, blogging. this blog will be dedicated to my love of all things pretty, so makeup, fashion, interiors, etc, and my life in general. life has been a little rocky recently, so i guess i'll document the goings on. i'll probably start with some general 'me' info, and then i'll do some of the tags that have been going round on blogspot and youtube, just to kickstart things. so, that's what to expect for the time being. in a bit guys and girls.

maddie x