My first EOTD

Here is my first ever EOTD post. I've been meaning to break in to these for ages but I've never been able to get pictures that I feel were up to scratch. Thanks to the camera that I got for Christmas with a great macro setting, those woes are over and hopefully there will be more of these to come.

I mostly wear a lot of purple and neutrals and my make-up collection is limited but I'll just keep posting pictures and hopefully my collection and make-up skills will both improve with time!

I've also been thinking for quite some time about making youtube videos. I really want to - especially for nails - but I'm hesitant about putting myself out there like that. Youtube is a world away from blogging in the sense that it's a completely different audience so we'll see how that goes. I need to get a memory card with a decent writing speed for my camera anyways, so I'll get over that milestone first!

I used (in order):

Primark Prime of Your Life - In The Pink

E.L.F Brightening Eye Colour Quad - Hazy Hazel

MUA Eyeshadow - Shade 1

E.L.F Cream Eyeliner - Black

Dimples Eyelashes Style 118 - Black

Want to be rewarded for sitting at your computer?

I know the title makes it sound like a spam post but I assure you it's not! I just want to tell you about a website called Valued Opinions. It's a market research website for residents of the UK. You take their surveys and get rewarded with store vouchers.

You basically sign up and fill out some details about yourself then when a survey comes up that you may qualify for (based on the information you've given them) they send you an email and you can choose whether or not you want to take it. It's up to you how much information you provide - it is kind of personal, they ask you things like which bank you're with and what kind of mobile phone service you have - but the more you give, the more surveys you'll be invited to. Before you take each survey, they tell you roughly how much of your time it will take and how much you'll  be rewarded.

I've been a member since last July, so about 6 months, and I've accumulated just over £20 in rewards already. I think this is a great deal considering all I have to do is sit at my computer every so often and answer some questions. A lot of the surveys are even fun and interesting to complete.

You can claim vouchers for as little as £10 for loads of places like Amazon, Tesco, HMV, Boots, Argos, Arcadia Group (Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis) and more or even choose to donate your rewards to charity.

I love this website, it really has something for everyone. I mean, who wouldn't like a gift voucher now and then to treat themselves and with all the voucher options you can practically buy whatever you want.

It's especially great for people like myself who don't have a lot of disposable income and like to treat themselves on occasion without feeling guilty for splurging cash that would be put to better use on books or food! 

On the 29th of December, I cashed in £10 of my rewards on a Boots voucher. They tell you to allow up to 28 days until you receive the voucher but mine came super quickly. I don't know exactly how long it took because I have been away but it was waiting for me when I got home on the 10th. I went to Boots today and I'll let you know what I bought in an upcoming post.

I think I'll order an Amazon voucher next so I can buy some more Nail Envy - I'm never going to be able to live without that stuff now! The great thing with the Amazon vouchers is that you get them immediately - they just email you a code.

Is anyone a member of any survey sites?

Just some musings

I feel like there are so many things I need to get out in the open and I think here is probably one of the best places I can do it. Hardly anyone will read this and I hope the ones that do won't judge me for anything I divulge. I'm just going to write and not think about it too much or go back and change things - this is really just brain spew.

Over the past 3 months, I've felt myself sliding down a slippery slope. For anyone that doesn't know, I'm currently in my 2nd year at University, my course is Accounting & Finance. I got my first taste of accounting when I was 16 and doing my Business Studies GCSE - one 3rd of that year was spent on accounting and I had an exam which I scored highest of my class in. I think I got 92%. Since then I've wanted to be an accountant. The stuff just came easily to me.

Anyway - the next year I moved up to Sixth Form to complete my A-Levels. The final step in my education before University.

I have always planned to go to University since I was a kid. It was just something I knew I would do because I've always liked being in education. I'm not a 'nerd'. I never do my homework and was never top of the class (apart from that accounting exam and in ICT - I am a computer nerd) but I just enjoy being in school. Making friends is easy and you're not shouldered with any real responsibilities.

So here I am - 19 years old, still in the education system, but slowly falling out of love with it. My long standing hatred for homework and my penchant for procrastination means I'm really behind on all the work. I have four exams coming up this month and if you sat me in one of them tomorrow I would probably have a nervous breakdown.

This is what's plaguing me at the moment. I wake up every day and I can feel the dread of these exams hanging over me but I just can't bring myself to open a book and learn some shit. 

So back to my feelings about the last 3 months. When I started uni at the start of October, it really hit me how hard I'm going to have to work to get a good,even respectable, degree and I really started to get down about it. I don't work hard at anything unless I really enjoy it and even then I get real bored real fast. However, I convinced myself that I was going to do it - I was going to prepare all my classes the week before, I was going to complete all the recommended reading for my lectures and essays weeks in advance. Low and behold, this didn't happen and I've found myself here today with these exams coming up and not a clue how to pass them.

I don't know if anyone was able to comprehend that. I know I can't write anything concise or to the point!

Does anyone have similar thoughts to me?

Front Cover Eye Palette

Every year at Christmas time I spend some time perusing the gifts on offer in Boots. I never buy any even with the 3 for 2 offer unless I know someone wants one specifically. 

I look particularly for the Front Cover sets which I always have an urge to buy but know I wouldn't get much use out of. In the past, they've just sold one large boxy set with loads of little eyeshadows in but it seems like this year they've expanded the range a bit and introduced some cool palettes and 'look' kits.

Since I know all the gifts in Boots go to half price after Christmas I held out and bought one this year as I've started to wear a lot of eyeshadow and although I did get a fair amount of it yesterday in my stocking, they were a lot of neutral colours so I splashed out and bought this 'Very Hot/Very Cool' palette which has such a sleek design and is full of great colours.

The front has one of those pictures that changes as you look at it from a different angle to show the Hot and Cold looks.

Under the lid there is a great sized mirror and the Cool shades and a drawer slides out from underneath to reveal the Warm colours.

It also comes with two brushes, each with a thick blending end and a smaller liner brush.

This palette was £7.50 reduced from £15 and you should be able to find it in most decent sized Boots stores for a few days still along with some of their other products.

I'm planning on doing some EOTD's soon and maybe even YouTube videos but I'm not making any promises and my blending needs a lot of work!

MUA Lipstick Swatches (Shades 2, 3 and 11)

MUA, or Make Up Academy is a budget brand that you can find in most Superdrug stores and every single item costs £1.

They have lipsticks, eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascaras and loads more to chose from. They give the shades numbers rather than names which is a bit boring but for £1 each, you can't expect them to waste money hiring someone to think up imaginative names for the colours.

I have 3 of the lipsticks here to swatch for you.

Shade 3

This a hot, Barbie pink. It's definitely not a subtle colour but good for pairing with understated eyes and will make you stand out in a crowd.

Shade 2

A subtle, plummy pink. This is great for everyday wear but best suited to fair complexions.

Shade 11

This is a great shade if you're craving nude lips. It has a hint of orange but still looks natural and elegant.

These lipsticks wear very well considering the tiny price tag. Just beware of getting left with the lip-liner look as the colour wears throughout the day, it may be a good idea to refresh your application every hour or so.

Look What I Rescued

I found these two pairs of earrings in a charity shop for 99p a pair.

I love earrings that fall in a diamond shape so these were a must.

This pair is the one that originally caught my eye. They're heavier than I'd like but just so gorgeous that I couldn't leave them there.

The only problem is that the gold plating has faded away in some areas. I was considering painting over it with nail polish but I can't imagine that turning out very nicely. Does anyone have any tips for something I can paint on that will make it look gold again?

Weekend Words

Thank You, Daddy

My 11 year old brother is obsessed with WWE so when I found out there was a tour this year, I nicely asked my Dad if we could go and he obliged. The venue is only down the road from where I live at Uni, so both my brothers stayed at my house last night after the show.

My girlfriends can't understand why I wanted to go. I'm not a huge fan of wrestling myself but I'm always happy to do absolutely anything that will provide me with some entertainment and last night didn't disappoint. And anyway, it's not like it hurt my eyes to watch those guys throwing each other around.

I Bumped In To My Tutor From High School

When I was in the city centre this week, I saw a woman waving at me and recognised it as the 'form tutor' - basically the teacher who took my class's register in the morning and who had to deal with all my misbehavings - that I had for the first 4 or 5 years of my comprehensive (high) school education. She was lovely to me even though I was a typical teenage train wreck back then and particularly spiteful to her even though, now I see in hindsight, she only wanted to help all of us.

 She was happy to hear that I was studying Accounting, especially since she was also my Business Studies teacher for two years and taught me my first bits of accounting which got me interested in the subject.

No Nails

It's been almost a whole week since I even painted my nails. For most of the week I have been sporting bare nails. It's probably the first time I've left the house without polish on in close to three years and I am a bit conscious of the yellow stains.

I've just been wearing a coat of OPI's Original Nail Envy which I won in Marina's giveaway a few weeks back and it is definitely strengthening my nails. They are the longest and strongest they've been in a long time. I love this stuff.

Human Technology Will Render Us Obsolete

My DSLR camera broke yesterday while I was at the WWE show. After some fiddling, I discovered that it will switch on without the memory card in but not when it is in which isn't much use to me since there is not a bit of internal memory. I've had this camera for 2 years and am absolutely gutted since it is my 2nd most prized possession (after my car, which I also had to say goodbye to last week) and I probably won't be able to afford any repairs for a long time. I also don't know how it will affect my ability to blog, especially on The Nailasaurus where the pictures are the fundamental ingredient.

My mobile phone is also on the blink. It won't hold a charge for more than 10 hours but that's probably a simple case of an ageing battery.

Love Film

You may or may not know that I am a self-proclaimed movie nerd. I'm the one who actually looks forward to the trailers before the film starts and says 'I want to see that' after almost every single one.

I went to the cinema twice this week to see 'Easy A' on Monday and 'The Kids Are All Right' on Wednesday. I wasn't disappointed in either of them and would recommend them both.