Crafting Mini-Haul!

On occasion it is just absolutely necessary to purchase new pens.

My mum and I often take trips to The Range which has a selection of craft supplies. It's in the middle of refurbishment at the moment so everything was all over the place when we went today before picking my brother up from the station, but I managed to find a few goodies.
Here's what I bought!

I have been eyeing up the Special Delivery stamps by Helz Cuppleditch for ages. My mum bought me one with Father Christmas giving carrots to little rabbits as presents <3 I'll take a pic at some point, it's SO cute! I wanted the penguin stamp because I had an idea for mini Christmas cards, which I also bought. They didn't have white ones so I got pearlised cream which hopefully will work just as well. The pens just wouldn't leave my hand. They weren't cheap but they're SO PRETTY!!! *Wistful sigh*

Helz Cuppleditch is one of my favourite illustrators. Her designs are always adorable and always find their way into my basket... I have several of her previous collections, not the whole collections mind but choice pieces. I usually buy the papers, diecuts and the stamps, leaving the stickers and decoupage etc.. I occasionally get the buttons too hehe.. but the stamps are reusable and the papers are really good quality so I don't feel so bad about buying them. All of them. The stamps retail for £3.99 each and I recommend them wholeheartedly! You'll need an acrylic block to stamp them with, but they're very cheap. If you haven't seem Helz's artwork before then you should definitely check out her website.

These little blank cards are so cute, they're 3"x3" and are pearlised so they have a sheen to them. They come with matching envelopes too =) my plan is to have one penguin per card and make my own backgrounds for matting and layering. I'm excited to start these, even though it feels very early. These were £2.99 which for 20 cards is fairly reasonable. About 15p a card.

 Urgh my camera did NOT want to focus on the ribbon. I think it's because the protective plastic was still on them so they were all reflective.. but anyway it's a kind of bluey-mint green textured ribbon with little white polka dots of various sizes. I thought it kind of looked like snow? Anyway it was only £1 and it'll make cute bows =) you can probably see it better in the group picture actually >.<

These pens. Oh these pens. What can I say? I love pens. Going back to a very little Leisha, I used to spend my days colouring in. I thought that one day I might be a professional colour-iner. This love of stationery and colours is probably why I like nail varnish so much; it's a left over childhood passion. It's what I was born to do. The love of sitting for hours colouring pictures has dwindled but my love for the instruments of colour has not. Pens call to me. These were no exception. I went to them, said "ooooooohhhhh..." saw the price tag (£14.99) went "errrrrrhhhhhh...." then somehow they ended up in my hand for the entire time I was in the shop, then came with me to the till. I might have to do a proper review of these with swatches etc, each pen has two nips.. one is like a brush, it is shaped like a brush but doesn't have bristles. It creates a nice wash of colour. The other is a very fine point, perfect for writing or for detail work. I love them. There were 2 other sets that I might have to go back for, one was pastel and the other was brights. I have several different packs of bright pens so I went for the Vintage set hoping they'd be muted and delicate, which they are.

So there were have it, a little haul of crafty bits yay!
Do you enjoy crafting? What are your favourite brands/artists? Please check out Helz Cuppleditch if you haven't already, her art is too cute!

-Leishasaurus

Birthday China Glaze Haul!

So my birthday was just a massive excuse to buy nail varnish.
First I got these four...

 China Glaze: Naked, Flying Dragon(Neon), Blue Sparrow(Neon), Make Some Noise

  Then I got sad about being older again and got four more.

Orly: Red Carpet, China Glaze: Make Some noise, Champagne Bubbles, Gaga for Green, Electric Beat, Blue Sparrow(Neon), Flying Dragon(Neon), Naked.

Arranging them in rainbow order made me feel a lot better about myself.

And they complimented my amazing birthday cake!

He tasted of lemon... mmm lemony...

-Leishasaurus.

P.S. Yup, Champagne Bubbles was actually £0.42. Bargain.

Blue Glittery Nails! + Models Own Haul #2

Hello it's me again! Firstly I'd like to say, I don't know how it's happened but somehow I've got 22 followers! YAY! So thank-you very much for following and commenting - it means a lot =) I'm hoping to do a giveaway at some point, maybe when/if I manage to get 50 followers! Exciting! I'm going to start putting together a prize or two =D


Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend, my boyfriend was visiting and I didn't get online. I painted my nails on Sunday though and no chips so far! Would you like to see? I thought you might =) 

 I originally wanted to do a glitter gradient using three tones of glitter polish but the mid-toned one that I have had a blue jelly base whilst the others were clear so I decided just to layer them! This is going to be a right pain to remove though lol!


The colours I used are Juicy Jules and Bluebelle from Models Own and Cosmic Blue by W7 =) I love how sparkly it is! Juicy Jules gives it a lovely holo glint in the sun too! I'm loving my blues at the moment, my last 3 mani's have been blue! 

Oooo and I reported my faulty polish to Models Own and they sent me a replacement! A brand new full bottle of Pink Lady! I'm very happy, excellent customer service! Also, my second order arrived a the same time as my replacement! Here's what I got:


Polish (Left to right): Tangerine Queen, Purple Poppy, Slate Green
Brushes: Foundation Brush, Retractable Brush, Retractable Lip Brush
As well as: Cream Eye Shadow- Pink Piper, Blush - Warm Glow, Lipstick - Sheer Sparkle, Powder Eye Shadow - Pale Peach.

I was going to order a lip balm as well but I got the retractable brush instead.. I tried out the lip balms in boots and they seemed very sticky and didn't smell very nice.. besides I have plenty already lol I will try all of these out and let you know what they're like! I want to do a brush review at some point too. The retractable ones are hours of fun lol!


So there we go! A blue glitter mani and my second Models Own order =) hope you like it!
-Leisha xx

Feed the Addiction.

Firstly, apologies for not blogging for a while! I've been so busy with my dissertation and last week I was away from my computer so I didn't get a chance to write an entry.. but I realise that these are but poor excuses and that nail polish should come first no matter what! Please forgive me!


I've been pretty busy on the nail polish front too.. busy buying them that is! My god. I blame boots and their 3 for 2.. but really it's my fault.. I'm addicted. I dread to think about how much I have spent on nail polish in the last few months. Lots and lots I'd wager. It's bad. So I made a promise to myself that (aside from tomorrow when I'm going to Southampton with Carrie and Dan and will be making the most of the last day of the 3 for 2) I will use all of my current polishes before I buy any more. That's right! Wonder how long that will last.


Ohh oh but I have exciting news for anyone who loves Nails Inc.! I picked up some gorgeous polishes in Oxford Street yesterday and the lovely lady that gave me a great deal on them told me that they're bringing out some holographic shades next month! OH MY!!! I so want these! If I haven't used all of my polishes by the time they're out then I'm sorry but I'm breaking my promise and buying them. All of them. I was so disappointed that I couldn't get the China Glaze OMG collection so these will be perfect! And yes, I know, I know.. they are bloody expensive. But I don't care any more haha I will have them!!


So yes. I've been busy buying and I guess I should show you a picture to get across the sheer extent of my purchasing craze. Bear in mind that I took this a couple of weeks ago and my collection has since grown even more. Thank goodness for student loans.

Yeah so cheak those bad boys out! You'll notice some Orly polishes in there! I was so excited when I saw them in boots! I can't wait to try them all! I now have all of the Barry M crackles too! The BYS ones have lovely shimmer in them and were only £1.50 each! The MaxFactor ones were in an offer in Superdrug plus I got student discount on top so that made me happy! Check out the Models Own silver crackle and the Pro in Mauve Over! Gorgeous!!! Ah They make me so happy!! (Sorry for the bad lighting of this pic.. also, yes that is my dinosaur duvet. I am so cool.)


But wait, there's more!

Check out the price on those babies! Filthy gorgeous are made by the same company as Nails Inc. so I'm expecting good things! Four bottles for £12.50! I needed a new black as well, my old stargazer one has seen better days.. and the red looks nice too! But the real reason I chose this set was because of the glitters! There's a gorgeous greeny glitter and a bluey-silver one too! The lady in Debenhams said that they've got 8 different sizes of glitter inside and she showed me on her nails! I had to get them!

But the real stars of the show are these, special effects by Nails Inc.

Aren't they beautiful? The one of the left is a hematite coloured glitter with holographic flecks in it! It sparkles so much! The middle one is a pearlescent purple crackle! I had to!! And finally, the most beautiful of all, blue glitter with pink glitter flecks. Oh my it's stunning! These are usually £11 each but the lady said I could have them in the 3 for £28 offer that is for the summer colours which was so nice of her! She also added me to the mailing list so I get news about the new holo polishes! EEEEEeeee!


Ok so there is my haul of amazing nail varnish! Jealous? Hehehe.. TBH I could probably have done with the money rather than the polishes but meh they are so pretty just looking at them makes me smile!! 


So here are some of the mani's that I've done recently.. unfortunately I was a bit crap and didn't take pics of them all, but here you go anyway! First up is a blue mani using Models Own Blooboo, Barry M blue crackle and Sinful Colours Hottie. What do you think? I really loved this and it lasted ages!

Here is before and after the glitter:

After this one I couldn't resist trying my new Models Own Pro! I had high hopes and I wasn't disappointed! The bubbles you can see in the picture I think came from my basecoat.. So I'll be investing in a new one soon.. Probably the Models Own one tbh. But the colour on Mauve Over is stunning! I love it! And omg it smells divine! Like vanilla! Mmmmmmm... I want the cream colour of this shade too, Lavender Blue. That'll be what I'm looking for in So'ton tomorrow!! (I did look in Oxford Street but the boots there was rubbish!! They weren't even fully stocked! Grr.)

 Finally, this is the mani that I have on at the moment. It's Rimmel Lycra Pro in Ultra Violet with Models Own silver crackle =) It's very pretty but I didn't use a top coat to preserve the matt effect of the silver but it's started to rub off.. Next time I'll have to remember that it needs a top coat! 

Anyway! There we have it! Long blog to make up for the lack of posts recently =) Hope everyone is well! 


-Leisha.