Barry M: Peach Melba and Flamingo Pink

Hello again! 


I decided (after they had chipped a bit) that I had better remove my Grape Set Match and put something else on my nails.. I knew what I wanted to use but I am going to see my friend Carrie down in Southampton this weekend so I thought I'd save that for then.. so in the interim I rummaged through my nail polish collection and found a couple of Barry M shades that I hadn't got around to using.


The first is Peach Melba, it's a gorgeous colour! I love Barry M's pastels and this goes with the rest of the colours really nicely! It's very pale but not chalky, it looked darker at first because I did it in the evening when I had my light on so at first I didn't like it, but in the morning when I saw it I thought 'yes, this is nice'.

I wore this for a few days but managed to chip it in the shower.. So I had another rummage and picked out Flamingo Pink. I had been wanting this pink for a while and I treated myself to it one day while the Boots 3 for 2 was on! Flamingo Pink isn't like other pinks. Rather than being blue toned it has more of an orange tone which makes it warmer and really summery. It's still bright but it's not garish and it looked really nice with my skin tone! I'm pleased that I got this! It's not like any other pink that I own and it's very pretty. I'm definitely going to use this for some nail art and maybe with a nice glitter top coat at some point! I liked the colour too much to cover it this time though =)

So there we go, two summery Barry M shades! I hope you like them!

Here is a picture of my kitty-cat Willow looking extra adorable!!

-Leisha. x

P.S., I've been trying super hard to improve my application technique! Lookie at the neat nails!! 

I'm back!

Heylo, sorry for the lack of postage.. It's totally inexcusable I know but I've had my final exams and have moved back home now, it's just been rather hectic and my pc hasn't been set up properly.. then it was my birthday.. blah blah.. but I'm back now! Never fear!


Oh and I got a 2:1 for my History degree =D! Go me! 


I've been good and have taken pictures of each mani as I've done them =) so I have pictures for you to peruse through! I've also acquired several new polishes - lots of American brands that I've not owned or tried before and that I now absolutely adore haha eBay is my friend! Ooo also! My yellow-orange gradient mani got featured on the Model's Own Weekly Blog Wrap! I was sooooo chuffed about this! I had that giddy feeling in my tummy haha!


Right well here are my recent manicures =) each one has lasted nearly a week which is why there aren't so many of them! Hope you like! 

Sorry about my shoddy application and awful cuticles.. especially for the green and orange ones, I was ill at the time and did my nails in bed lol.. anyway, what do you think? I'm loving the Serena Williams Grape Set Match (the bottom pics) which I currently have on! The colour is amazing, glitter, duochrome, the works! The black mani I had for my birthday and forgot to take pics until it was all chipped haha oops.. but it was Sloane Square by Nails Inc over a black base coat! It looked fab! I've got lots of pics of polished that I've bought recently but I think I'll put that in a separate post because this one is already quite picture heavy.. so I'll just finish by saying once again that I'm sorry for leaving it so long between posts..


Here are some dino shortbread cookies that my friend Carrie's mum baked for my birthday, she included an icing kit so that I could decorate them! My very own Leishasaurus <3

Until next time!


-Leisha.

My Favourite Things

Yup, I'm bored. So I thought I would write a post about my favourite things in my life so that you guys can maybe get to know me a bit better.. Though it does feel that mostly I am talking to myself on this thing lol ah well.


So here goes.. In no particular order (Except the cats, they definitely come first).


My favourite things:


Obviously it goes without saying that I adore my family, my friends and my boyfriend so I'll assume that that's understood and move on to more material things lol


My cats:

Not that cats are material, of course.. In fact I rather think that they own me! These pictures pretty much depict what I love about my cats. Willow (top) is soft, fluffy, gentle and loving. Clawd (bottom) is brave, stripity, gorgeous and absolutely hilarious. I miss them terribly when I'm at uni (like now) and they're a huge part of my life! They make me so happy!


Yellow:


I like anything yellow. It's my favourite colour, it's so bright and happy and cheerful! Lots of people say it's "hard to wear" but that doesn't phase me at all, I'd much rather wear it, look silly and feel happy inside than not wear it at all for fear of someone not liking it. It's a glorious colour!


Irregular Choice Bunny Shoes!:


Oh yes, these are a total fave. So much so that my wonderful boyfriend bought me the black and pink pair as a dissertation present, even though I already have them in turquoise! Behold!

Aren't they beautiful? You don't even need to answer that because I know they are lol and they're so comfy! I wear them all night and my feet don't even begin to hate me for it! I have so much love for these shoes!!


My Chamilia Bracelet:


My brother got me the bracelet and my dad got me the turtle Pandora bead last Christmas. This bracelet is just so beautiful and what I love about it is that I chose the beads I wanted so it's personal to me! I have a best friend charm from my friend Carrie and one from Laura which remind me that I'm loved when I'm feeling sad. The beads make a nice tinkling sound as they move around which is soothing and lovely! It's the most expensive item of jewellery that I have ever owned and I love it so much! 

 My Piano:


Yes, it's old.. yes, it's second hand.. yes, it needs a bit of tlc.. but it's my piano and I love it! There's nothing better than sitting at it in an empty house playing whatever comes into my head. That cats generally tend to hide when I do though =\ I do so enjoy playing Chopin!! It gives me time to think, it relaxes me and clears my head.. It's my me time.. 


Video Games:


Ok, I confess it, I'm a totally gaming geek. I love Zelda. I still have my N64 and I play it regularly. I have a level 85 on World of Warcraft (Feral Druid, if you're interested!). Last time I was at my boyfriends we spent a week playing Fallout 3 lol. Yoshi is probably my favourite character and I'm totally a Nintendo fangirl! I watched most of the E3 stream and drooled a lot over the awesome future releases haha I'm so getting a Wii U and I have a 3DS on my birthday wishlist! I could go on and on about my favourite games.. maybe I'll do that in another post..


Panda Hat:


I love my panda hat from River Island. It comes everywhere with me. It's a great conversation starter, I even had my picture taken by a random guy in a shopping centre because of my hat and bag combo! I'll show you the bag next lol.. But yeah it's so comfy and keeps my ears warm plus it's a freaking panda!!! Love, love, love! 

Panda Bag:


I love my panda bag! It's huge! It holds everything I need and more plus it's a panda! <3 I got it from Octopus in Covent Garden, London =) 

Dinosaurs:


Yup, I love dinosaurs. Big time. For christmas last year my mum actually knitted me a dinosaur jumper. It is totally immense, the best jumper dress ever! No one has anything like this and no one will because mum said that the 3 months  it took her to knit it nearly killed her... I took that as a joke.. =s but yes I totally love dinos, I went to the Natural History Museum to see the dino exhibit there with my bro! It was awesome. I got a keyring. lol

 The Zoo:


Along with my love of extinct critters is my love for living ones! I adore going to the zoo and I'm planning to go for my birthday in July with a whole bunch of friends and family! The nearest zoo to me at home is Colchester zoo, they have sun bears and a leopard! I also love to see the otters! Those are my three main animal loves.. big fuzzy beary things, spotty catty things and squeaky ottery things! Ahh I want to go now!!! I went to Longleat with Carrie and Dan a couple of weeks ago.. it rained but I still loved it! 


Rainbow Converse:


These are my rainbow converse. There are many like them, but these are mine. And aren't they beautiful? /sigh.. I took the pic in the garden hence the undergrowth.. note the dinosaur socks..

Totoro:


TOTORO!!!!! He's so cute! *Squeeeee*

Lemon and Lime Marmalade:


I love this stuff. I have it on toast and it is divine! Who knew that so much happiness could come in a jar for £1.49??

Cooking and Baking:


I enjoy cooking, especially for others.. but I get quite stressed if I'm crowded in the kitchen lol so I tend to cook by myself... with baking though I love making cakes with my brother, we made a banana cake and it was amazing! Here are a few of my creations, including lemon chicken, lime and chilli chicken and said banana cake!

Whittard of Chelsea:


Omg I love that shop. I have so many mugs and plates and bowls and all sorts lol! Their Peach Melba instant tea is like drinking molten Jelly Babies! I might have to brew myself a cup in a minute! I go in the Winchester branch so much that the manager recognises me and says hello >.< Maybe that's a sign actually.. I need to cut back my Whittards habit... hmm...


Well I'll probably think of more, but that's it for now! Hope you know me a bit better for this post, it certainly gave me something to do for a while! I'll look forward to possibly maybe having some comments =)


-Leisha.

Yellow to Orange Gradient!

Hey guys! Sorry there haven't been any posts for a while, I've been busy with my final exams.. I had a killer one on Thursday and I'm feeling pretty drained.. got another on Tuesday as well =( oh well, just this last one and then I've finished uni forever! Scary times =O


So my nail polish ban is going ok... if we don't count that one lapse in poundland where I saw Rimmel Pink Amazon (RRP £4.59) and the market stall where there was W7 gold crackle... urgh I'm awful.. but shh, no one needs to know!!


Last night I was feeling in the mood to have a bit of a play with my nails, my Models Own Utopia had chipped on both index fingers and I took it as a sign.. so I removed it and looked through my massive collection lol! For those of you that know me, you'll know that yellow is my favourite colour.. so for me to have some yellow polishes that I haven't used is quite shocking! I thought I should probably use them..


The result is this:

Pretty nice huh! I used a sponge to dab colour on over a light base, which was actually kind of satisfying in itself lol these are the colours I used:

Here we have Rimmel 058 Lemon Drop, which is a scented polish that I picked up because I loved the pale colour.. it happens to smell of kitchen cleaner though haha but I can't smell it with a top coat thankfully! Secondly we have BYS N180 Bottle Blonde which I got for £1.50 in my favourite shop in Ipswich, Just Essentials. It's a gorgeous colour and it has a shimmer to it! Ah I'm in love.. Lastly, but by no means least, probably my favourite Models Own polish (even though it's not one of their pro range! I know!!) Models Own Golden Peach NP090, it's such a beautiful, happy colour.. and yes I am aware that it's not yellow.. but it has gold shimmer in it! <3

So What I did was paint my nails with a coat (or 3 because the coverage wasn't great) with the stinky yet pretty Lemon Drop! I then got a piece of plastic packaging (the film that my sponges came in) and I cut up a make-up sponge into a small wedge. I started with just the BYS and put a blob of it on the plastic then dabbed at it with my sponge, then dabbed the sponge onto my nail making sure to leave an area untouched at the base of the nail to let the lightest colour show up =) I then mixed the BYS and Golden Peach together to create a mid shade (I used 2 parts yellow to 1 part peach) and repeated, further up the nail to create a gradient.. then I used the Golden Peach on its own, but just a light covering..

So, what do you think? I might try this with blues at some point, it'd look good with all colours actually! I wonder if I could manage to create a rainbow effect.. that's totally on my to-do list now!

Here are some of the other mani's that I've been rocking lately, sorry for the crap pics but I took one of them on a train and it's all blurred haha! (It looks better in the pic with the purfume so just ignore the insanely pink bottle and look at the nails lol) The top 2 pics are using Orly Robo Romance and VIP. The middle two are using GOSH Lavender Love and NYC Starry Silver Glitter. The bottom pictures are Models Own Utopia.

 -Leisha.


PS, for a bonus here are some pics of one of my cats (Clawd) licking a spoon of malt extract. Enjoy!