Clear Nail Polish

Yesterday we were discussing how it’s so unfair our school’s don’t let us wear nail vanish. They always talk about how we should be ‘individual’ and ‘not follow the crowd’ but then they strip us of our individuality, it doesn’t make sense!

School uniforms are bad enough, with even a flower in your hair breaking the rules, but nails as well? Surely we should be allowed one bit of us to express our personalities? The other thing about nail vanish is that it hides horrible nails and makes you look a lot neater.

We think we have found a way to get the neat-nails effect without coloured nail vanish or false nails, clear nail polish! Its brilliant because they can’t tell you off for wearing it at school because it’s clear and you may just have extra shiny nails… Clear nail vanish and a good filing is all you need to achieve a perfect school (or work) appropriate look.

A few of our favourite clear nail polishes are:

Models Own Pro Nail Strengthener- This looks pink in the bottle but we can assure you it comes out clear. The brilliant thing about this is that it strengthens your nails as well, so it’s great if your nails have been weakened by fake nails (like mine were!).  It’s £8 (boots )which is a little pricey but the results are fantastic.

Natural Collection nail colour- This is super cheap at £1.89 (boots) and it’s great for the money. You need a few coats to get a glossy effect but it looks really good once it’s on, like your nails, but better!

Rimmel Nail Care Nail Rescue- This is another nail strengthening polish but it’s slightly cheaper than the Models Own one at £3.59 (superdrug). Having tried both, I would say that the models own one is slightly better but at under half the price this one is amazing, especially if your nails aren’t really that bad.

So that was a quick summery of our favourite clear nail polishes, hop you enjoyed reading and please leave is a comment telling us about your favourite nail polish!

Eyes for eyebrows

Eyebrows are probably the most annoying thing on my entire face. Plucking them takes ages, only to wake up the next morning and find a new hair has ruined my hard work. Not only this, but for some reason, my eyebrows grow straight upwards. So if I pluck a hair out, that is the whole height of that part of my eyebrow gone. I don’t understand. Yet somehow, the majority of people i see each day have perfect eyebrows.

What can we do about it?

Plucking
Probably the least painful and cheapest option, as you just need a pair of tweezers and you’re off. But the shape is never quite how you want it, and you seem to spend your whole life trying to tame them. However, it is useful as you can whip any stray hairs out in seconds.


Waxing / Threading
This option is more painful and expensive, not to mention the fact that 99% of the time you can’t do it yourself, so in-between treatments you have to walk around looking like Susan Boyle. But once they’ve been done your eyebrows look and feel perfect, and you don’t have to make yourself late in the mornings because you’ve developed eyebrows bigger than the rugby team overnight.

Those are the two main options that let you develop the shape and thickness of your eyebrows as you want them. And they're both reasonably cheap.

Or alternatively, as I know of a boy who once did (for a dare), shave them off.

Summer Body Splashes

 Today I’m going to be talking about my top 3 summer body splashes. I love these in summer because they’re a bit lighter than a perfume and you can just throw them in your bag and top yourself up all day.

In no particular order…

The first one I’m going to talk to you about is my Natural Collection Wild Strawberry body splash. I’ve mentioned this in an Outfit of the Day before and I still absolutely love it. It only costs around £2 and the smell is quite strong, for the money anyway. It doesn’t last that long but for two quid who can complain? It’s bright pink and the packaging is simple but effective. A wonderful summer scent!

My next product is Hollister’s Laguna Beach body mist. This smells of summer and parties on the beach! The smell is very intense which is really good and it last quite a while considering it’s not a proper perfume. This body mist would be perfect if it wasn’t so expensive, they’re currently £12 each but you can sometimes get them on a two for £20 deal. Having said they’re too expensive though, you do get a 250ml bottle and you don’t need to use much of it to get a nice smell, I have had mine for just under a year and it’s still not half empty!

 

Finally, I want to tell you about Soap and Glory’s Mist You Madly body splash. This is AMAZING. The smell is the signature soap and glory scent and although it’s perfect for summer, you can use it all year round too, it’s practically an investment! I think they’re around £5 for a 100ml bottle but again, you don’t need to use much of it to get the full effect! The packaging is very slick and it will look lovely on any dressing table.

Thankyou for reading and please let us know about your favourite summer scents!

DIY makeup brush holder

My friends think I am the most un-creative person on the planet, today I think I proved them wrong. Let me introduce you to my new brush holder…

This is what it looks like without brushes...



... and the other side

Let me explain. The pink cup is meant to be a pencil holder but it’s huge and it doesn’t match anything else on my desk. So, I decided to put all my brushes in it and put it on my chest on drawers. The problem was, I  thought it looked a bit plain. As I was thinking this, I glanced over at my overflowing-earring box and I had an epiphany. I decided to attach all my earrings through the holes in the cup. Of course, they didn’t all fit, but most of them did and I am so happy with the result! I am even considering buying some cheap earrings from Primark just to decorate it. A nice brush holder would have cost loads but I made my own for virtually nothing (the cup came free with my magazine holders and most of the earrings were presents).

Please leave a comment if you have any good DIY bedroom decorations!

Kill me now...

This weekend I am going on a watersports camp and I thought I’d give you a run down on what I’m taking, as I have improvised on some things because I’m not spending £££ on special waterproof clothes I’ll only wear once.  
 
2 pairs of tracksuit bottoms
 
You are meant to bring waterproof trousers but decent ones are so expensive so I just have some sports tracksuit bottoms. They’re really light so if they do get wet they will dry quickly anyway.
 
1 pair of thick tracksuit bottoms
 
apparently you are meant to sleep in thermals, no thank you. So I just have a pair of fleecy tracksuit bottoms.
 
2 fleeces
 
These are thin but warm over-your-head fleeces. I wasn’t going to bother with these because I thought they were going to be a fortune but there was a sale in a local camping shop (Not Trespass or anywhere like that) and they were 2 for £10. I got a turquoise one and a purple one and they’re really snug. I am defiantly going to be wearing them around the house.
 
A hoodie
 
Because we all need a good hoodie.
 
Mini Shampoo
 
I got this free in a magazine and I have kept it for an occasion such as this. In fact, I have a whole stack of different products in miniature form that I have got free or acquired from hotels.
 
Socks
 
I’m sorry, but I’m not spending £10 on a pair of walking socks. So, what I’m going to do is wear 3 or 4 pairs at the same time and take some blister plasters with me.
 
Primark Pumps (£2)
 
The kit list says we need 3+ pairs of waterproof shoes. No. I am taking 4 pairs of Primark pumps, I am going to wear them and if they get ruined just throw them away.
 
A bedding roll
 
I haven’t actually made this yet but from what I can gather, you just roll your mat, sleeping bag and pillow together and tie some string around it, sounds easier than it probably is.

 I hope you enjoyed this random post, sorry it wasn’t very long but I must dash as I haven’t actually put everything in my bag yet, whoops!

Miracle Mascaras

Mascara is my second most important make up. The first being foundation.

Without it my eyelashes look non-existent and it somehow makes me look and feel more awake. But some mascaras are a lot better than others.

My favourite mascara that I use the majority of the time is Maybelline – “the COLOSSAL Volum’ Express Waterproof” and I love it. It is £7.19 from Superdrug and the brush really helps your eyelashes go larger. My eyelashes don’t flick easily and this mascara, compared to the others I’ve tried gives them the most volume.

The other mascara I quite like is Max Factor Mascara 2000 Calorie Black. Is it £7.99 from Superdrug and really make me eyelashes stand out. It doesn’t give them the same volume but, considering the lack of volume my eyelashes gain, it does have a noticeable effect.

The mascara I am most disappointed about is Rimmel London – The Max Volume Flash Waterproof Mascara” It was Rimmel, £6.69 in Superdrug and did absolutely nothing to my eyelashes but give them a slightly darker shade.

Lovely Lip Balms

Hurraw lip balms have fast become my favourite lip product ever. I had the grapefruit one for my birthday and I have fallen in love. I was browsing the website looking for more flavours (yes I love them that much) and found out they were about £2.50, PLUS SHIPPING. Although they are lovely I’m not paying that for a lip balm that’s no bigger than my little finger.

So that got me thinking, what lip balms do I like that don’t cost as much. I love the Nivea one (you know the blue one that everyone’s got) it’s really moisturising when I have chapped lips but it doesn’t have a very nice smell. The smell’s not bad but it’s not the sort of thing you would hand to your friend and say “Here, smell this”.

Another brilliant lip balm is actually Vaseline. My favourite is the pink one (I’m not too sure of the exact flavour) and they’re quite cheap considering those little round tins last for ages. The only problem with Vaseline is that it melts easily. It’s ok if you’re at home; you can just stick it in the fridge for a bit. But, if you’re on holiday like I was when mine melted, you might not have that option.

My other all time favourite lip balm in the ‘I love…’ one in the flavour Mango and Papaya. My pot has lasted for ages, I got it from Ethel Austin and that closed down ages ago. I think they now sell them in TK-Max but I’m sure if you did a bit of web surfing you could easily find them online. This lip balm, as I said, lasts for ages, I’m still not half way through the pot and it was super cheap! It smells lovely and is quite moisturizing.

So they’re my favourite cheap lip balms, I’m still gutted about the Hurraw ones being so expensive but I have realised there is lots of cheap alternatives!

Hope you enjoyed reading, please leave us a request in the comments!

7 Things for 7 Days

http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/interactive-7-things-for-7-days-june.html#comment-form

We’ve just read Sprinkle of Glitter’s '7 Things for 7 Days' posts and we love them! When she invited everyone to join in we were so exited. So, this is 7 things we (Sarah and Aimee) would like to achieve this week.

Be nice. We were talking about this the other day and we have decided that the odd smile here and the odd “Hello, how are you?” there can make you into a much nicer person.

Read more. We both have hundreds (ish) of books that have never been read and we don’t want to miss out on literacy goodness now do we? Also, reading is a good way to relax which leads us nicely on to…

Relax. We have very nearly finished our exams for this year and we can feel  the stress on ourselves so this week we are both going to try and relax more. I’m (sarah) going to have lot’s of hot baths and watch glee and Aimee is going to watch rom-coms and have an early night.

Eat healthier. We both eat like pigs and sooner or later we’re going to be obese. So, we have decided to focus on getting our five a day and cut the chocolate *cry*.

Be the reason someone smiles. This kind of links in with the ‘Be Nice’ thing but hey ho. By this we mean giving people the smallest compliments such as “Your hair looks really nice today” that can really brighten up their day.

Try our best in everything we do. We know this sounds a bit cheesy but we think it’s really important. We want to work harder in the last few weeks of this term, the final sprint as it were. It’s not just school we want to try our best at blogging and getting on with out families too.

Be better bloggers. We are trying our absouloute hardest to put out good quality blogs everyday and we want to continue that! If you have any suggestions on blogs you would like to see please leave us a comment!

And that finishes our ‘7 Things we’d like to achieve’. We hope you enjoyed reading it and if you have done this leave us the link and we would love to read yours!

Review: Telescopic Explosion Mascara L’ORÉAL

Today’s post is a little review of my favourite mascara. It’s the Telescopic Explosion Mascara by L’ORÉAL. I purchased this mascara a couple of months back and since then I have used it again and again. It’s nearly run out and if they still make it, I will defiantly be re-purchasing.

Before I start rambling on about the actual product, I thought I’d just mention the packaging. It’s red and black and looks, kind of sleek. It’s the perfect size and thickness and I have to say, I think it looks rather posh ;)

The thing that makes this mascara so brilliant is the wand, it’s a sphere! This is really unusual (obviously) so at first I was a little sceptical. But once I had done one eye with this I was hooked. The application does take a bit of getting used to as you have to do one lash at a time (yawn) but you get faster once you’ve used it a few times.

As far as consistency goes this mascara is pretty good. You don’t need a zillion coats for it to have its best affect, maybe two or three? And I have found it doesn’t come off that easily during the day, unless it rains because it’s not waterproof, sadly.

The only problem I have with this product is that it clumps a lot. It’s really annoying when you’re in a rush and you just want to quickly go over your lashes. To solve the problem I use a coat of another mascara (a Hannorah one if you’re interested!) and this get’s rid of the clumps. My other mascara is also waterproof so when you have both on together it doesn’t run as much in the rain.

The price is a bit steep, I think mine was around £11.99 from boots, which is more than I would normally pay for a mascara. Is it worth the extra money? I would say yes it is, but I would love to find a cheaper one that’s just as good.

As I said before, I’m not sure if this mascara has been dis-continued or not, as it isn’t on the boots website or in my local store. However, you may be able to find a similar one from L’ORÉAL (maybe they’ve just changed the name) at www.boots.com.

Ease of use: * * *

Quality: * * * *

Packaging: * * * *

Wand: * * * *

Price: * * (although I think it’s worth it)

Overall: * * * *

((We know our blog has been a bit all over the place lately, we're just trying to find the perfect design and text colour, please bear with us!))

Dry Shampoo...

Dry shampoo is one of the best inventions ever. When you don't have time to wash your hair, or wake up half an hour late and suddenly look like you've just been swimming, it's a quick and easy solution.

Two of the best Dry Shampoos are Batiste and TRESemme. I have Batiste Original and it makes my hair look like it was washed just 24 hours ago. The Original version doesn't have a refreshing smell, but it's a great quick fix. I have never tried the TREsemme one but it is rated as one of the best and although doesn't have a great smell is said to really add volume to your hair.

The Batiste Original 200ml can be bought for £2.99 and lasts a very long time! The TREseeme 200ml costs £4.79 which is more expensive, but several reviews quote it as "better than Batiste"

In conclusion, i think that the Batiste dry shampoo is perfect on a budget as it cleans your hair and takes less than ten minutes to apply and brush out. I personnally prefer this to TREsemme as although this has a better smell, it is much more expensive for the same size, same quality bottle.

Too good to be true?

A few months a go I ‘invested’ in a Natural Collection body spray from boots. At first I was a little sceptical, £2 for a 150ml body spray just seemed too good to be true. I thought it was going to be very watery with a weak smell.

How wrong was I? This body spray is brilliant! I have Wild Strawberry at the moment but I will defiantly be trying the other flavours. The smell is very intense, I even use it to freshen up my bedroom when my brothers been in it!  

The packaging is simple but there’s nothing wrong with it and the actual spray itself is hot pink, perfect! It doesn’t look out of place on my dressing table and it’s competing with the likes of Hollister and Soap and Glory.

Speaking of Hollister, I would defiantly prefer to save myself at least £10 and buy this body spray than fork out for the likes of Hollister. To be honest, there is hardly any difference in quality and even though the Hollister one is bigger, it’s defiantly not worth the extra money.

Another good thing about this product is all the different flavours, as well as the one I have there is; Vanilla, Sea Minerals, Apple and Lime and many more. I might have to buy them all to complete my collection…

Overall I would give this product 9/10 because it smells wonderful, it looks lovely on any dressing table and it’s most defiantly brilliant on a budget!

Are designer shoes old news?

If your towns anything like ours it will have gone trainer shoe crazy! Vans, Converse, Doc Martins, Hunters, but are they really worth the hype?

Aimee

I recently purchased a pair of black vans from the Vans shop. I have been wanting a pair of Vans for ages and it was definitely worth the wait! They’re so comfy and I can wear them with pretty much anything. I would have preferred a brighter colour, such as red, but the black ones really do go with most outfits and can be worn in all weathers. They don’t look similar to “those £2 ones from Primark” as my dad puts it, and they’re way more comfy. They were definitely worth the £45.

Aimee's vans

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Sarah

I love converse. There is no two ways about it; they are my all time favourite shoes. I had a new pair for my birthday and I haven’t taken them off since. They are so comfy, go with everything and look nice. When I saw the ones I wanted were £40 I was unsure but I can safely say they are worth the money. I also want some Vans (I’m rather jealous of Aimee’s) maybe some pink ones… As for Doc Martins I can never decide whether I like them or not. I think I like the white ones and the cherry red ones but I’m not sure about the other colours. On a side note, I also LOVE Hunter wellys but I have told myself they’re just normal wellys with a label on and have persuaded myself against buying some (sadly).



Sarah's converse



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So, to conclude, we have decided we love Vans and Converse because they’re practical, go with everything, comfy and are worth the little bit extra. As for the other shoe crazes we’re not too sure…

Jeans jeans jeans

 There’s nothing quite like a good pair of jeans. We both recently bought new pairs of the wonderful items…

Aimee

I bought a pair of black jeans at the weekend from New Look. I thought they were £10… which is why I bought them. They were £15. My other jeans were too big but these are perfect. However, stuff sticks to them like dog hair and fluff (cough sarahs dog cough).

Sarah

My new jeans were actually a birthday present but my mother doesn’t understand the labels in Topshop so she gave me the money to buy them. They are bright blue ankle grazers, as I said before they are from Topshop, and they are the Leigh style. They were £40 which is not really a budget price but they were a birthday present so please let me off… I am really pleased with them and I love the turn ups at the bottoms because old people, who don’t know what ankle grazers are, just think you’ve turned your jeans up.

Hello!

Hello this is our new blog, Brilliant on a Budget!