5 Things

I've been a bad blogger recently and have had trouble thinking of stuff to write about. So I figured I would just update you on a few things that are going on in my life.

1 - Car

The insurance on my car expires tomorrow and unfortunately, this year, I can't afford to renew it. I've been driving that little thing around for more than 2 years now and it sounds lame but my life is gonna be completely different now.

It won't make much difference to my while I'm at Uni because everything I need is within walking distance but when I'm at home in the holidays, it's more secluded and I know I'm going to feel so frustrated when I can't get anywhere.

The only up side is that I will get a refund of the 10 months tax that I didn't use.

2 - Skin

It seems like I wake up every day with a new spot on my chin and have done for the last 6 weeks at least. I've never suffered too much with spots but whenever I get spotty it's always on my chin. I've been using a witch stick in an attempt to get the little blighters to leave but so far it's not doing much good.

3 - University

I'm back at Uni now and obviously now I'm in my second year, everything is harder. It's only week 4 and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with everything.

I was always the girl who doesn't apply herself. I'm rubbish at studying and working and always leave my assignments until the last minute. Until now, I've managed to get away with it but because standards here are so high and I really need to work hard, I can see myself struggling to get a decent mark.

4 - Sleeping

Since starting back at Uni, my sleeping patterns have been all messed up. Getting up isn't a problem - I can get up as early as I need to - it's just staying awake that I struggle with! 

It starts when I stay awake too late because I have to do work which, of course, I've left until the last minute. Then I have to get up early to get to lectures where I often find myself sleeping on the desk. Today, I missed the last 10 minutes of a lecture and couldn't even remember feeling tired or falling asleep. Then I come home and nap in the afternoons and it starts all over again.

5 - Friends

By far, the best part of Uni is being so close to all my friends. There is always someone around do something with whether it's the cinema, grocery shopping, clubbing or just chatting.

I won a giveaway :)

Here are the goodies that I won from Marina @ Forever The Ugly Duckling in her first ever giveaway this week. It came wrapped up in three layers of paper so I was just like a little kid at a birthday party playing pass the parcel (only with myself)!

Models Own - Purple Grey

Models Own - Peacock Green (surprise extra)

OPI - Samoan Sand 

OPI - Original Nail Envy

Some fimo slices in Bird and Skull designs (also a surprise)

I loooove these colours and they're also my first ever Models Own and OPI polishes so it's a super exciting day for me. I was just moaning that my nails are really weak and I can't grow them very much because they just keeping peeling and snapping off so, hopefully this OPI base coat will help me a great deal.

I just wanted to show you guys what I won and what you can expect to see over the next few days if I find time to get some nail art done. Which I'm sure I will now I have these babies to play around with!

Get more for your money at Boots.

I know the title makes it sound like I'm just trying to get you all to go and buy your Christmas presents at Boots but I actually want to tell you how you can get loads more goodies for your money by making the most of their £5 off No7 or Ruby and Millie vouchers.

I have been in need of a new foundation for a while now so today, I decided to go into the larger Boots store in town to get one of the No7 Ladies' advice about which one would be best and which colour matches my skin because when I try and pick the right colour myself it's always wrong!

They seem to have an offer on all the time now that when you spend £5 in store, you receive a voucher for £5 off No7 or Ruby and Millie which are both Boots' own brands but great quality. I am normally very cheap when it comes to make-up purchases but I think it's important to have a good quality foundation that matches your skin tone so I have been using No7 for a few years now and I find the products last for ages.

So anyway... if you're buying a No7 product, it makes sense to spend £5 in store on something you need, or even just a treat like I did, and use the voucher to get the £5 off No7. So it's like getting £5 of stuff for free!

Here is what I bought... and the RRP of each:

Boots Styling Mousse for Curls and Waves £1

Boots Maximum Hold Hairspray £1

VO5 Volumising Blow Dry Lotion £3.29

Ring Set £2 (in the sale)

No7 Speed Dry Nail Polish in Poolside Blue £6.75

No7 Mineral Perfection Foundation £14

Total: £28.04

And I got it all for £17.04!!! Amazing considering that the two No7 products alone should cost over £20.

Here's how I did it...

I purchased the 3 hair items (which were on 3 for the price of 2) and rings for £6.29 and got a voucher.

I strolled across the store to the No7 counter and bought the foundation. With the voucher, I had to pay £9.

Then, to my delight, the girl at the till put another voucher in my hand so I popped over to pick up the nail polish and paid £1.75 for it.

I am such a huge bargain hunter and love sharing my tips with other people so I hope you've enjoyed reading about my bargains!

I've never tried Ruby and Millie products. Have any of you? They are more expensive than No7 and there was no one there to help me choose so I didn't really spend much time looking at them.

Review: Schwarzkopf Country Colours

Yesterday I died my hair using Schwarzkopf Country Colours. It's a temporary colourant that can last 'up to 8 weeks'. I used shade no. 58 - Grand Caynon which is Red. I got if from Savers and as far as I can remember it was either £1.99 or £2.99. My box looked like this...

...but I think that's old packaging and the product now looks like this...

I use a lot of hair dye and in the past, my go-to for temporary colour is Boots' own brand but they stopped doing a red shade years ago. In fact, I spent a long time looking for a semi-permanent red in all of the high street stores and the only ones I found were over £5 which is a lot to spend on a DIY colour that, on my porous hair, will only last about 3 weeks.

The Kit
The gloves are old-school - like the ones you get at the petrol station. Many dyes now come with much better fitting gloves but this wasn't a problem.
The colour was orange in the bottle but as always, that's no indicator of how it will turn out - it was just a bit off-putting.
It comes with 22.5ml of conditioner which is a lot, but unfortunately it's in a tube with no way of resealing so you either have to use what you want and throw it away or keep it for later with the risk of spilling it everywhere.

The Process

This dye has to be applied to wet hair. Not after washing - you are just supposed to wet your hair before using this dye. This was strange to me since most hair dyes I use have to be applied to dry hair.

The instructions say processing time is between 20-30 minutes depending on how intense you want the results to be. This seems a lot for a semi-permanent dye.
My hair is just longer than shoulder-length and there was more than enough of the product to cover my hair. It advises using two boxes if your hair is below the shoulder but I think you would only need two if you have very long hair.

The Result
I left it on my hair for the full 30 because, in my experience, colours need longer to take to my hair and the result is indeed very intense considering I had brown hair to start with.
My hair feels amazingly soft but it's not very shiny.

I really liked this product and it would now be my first choice for semi-permanent dye. I liked that there was plenty of product because in the past with other brands, when I had longer hair, I'd have to spread the product really thin or buy two boxes.
The range of shades available is also great, as is the price. I'll be using this one again in the future.

More Primark Bargains

More stuff from Primark:

Marvel T-Shirt - from the mens section. Originally purchased for my brother but I like it and he doesn't!!

Wayfarer rip-offs. Reduced to 50p and they matched my outfit - these are actually the first pair of white sunglasses I've bought this year. I also have these in black.

Flower hair slides. Recently I've been wearing my hair up and I wanted something to jazz it up a bit so these will be great for sticking in for a bit of flair.

I'll try not to post so much shopping. I just love buying stuff!

Ikea Trip!! Shall I buy a Helmer?!

I went to Ikea yesterday with one of my House mates for this year! We were just browsing to get some ideas for decorating our house and went to the cafe too for some of the famous, yummy yummy, Swedish meatballs.




The best part of any Ikea trip - the meatballs and chips. Mmmmm.
With my Ikea family card, I got the meal for £1.50 - such a bargain. I don't know if it's a nationwide offer or just in Cardiff but it's available Monday to Friday 3-6pm.

I bought an absolutely deeelicious smelling candle. It's called a Tindra and I bought the medium sized one but you can also buy them as tealights or huge ones. 

This is the nicest smelling candle I've ever had the pleasure of sniffing! I was holding it up to my nose most of the way round the store. There are no flavour names, but the picture on the label was of a selection of berries. So next time you go to Ikea, pleeease give it a sniff!

And finally - the first Helmer I ever laid my eyes on! Every time we turned a corner, I was immediately scanning the area for the Helmers.

I've wanted one for ages to house my ever expanding nail polish collection but there's no room for it in my bedroom at home. I have a bigger bedroom in the house I'll be living in this year so I think it's inevitable I'll end up with one.

It's bigger than I was expecting and my polishes won't quite fill it up which is a good thing because I also need somewhere to store my similarly growing collection of make-up.

The only dilemma is, which colour shall I get? Red, White or Silver? It's a tricky decision since whichever one I get will clash with the colours in my room.

Have you tried Ikea meatballs? Do you love them as much as me or are they not for you?

Primark Buys

Tomorrow, I get the keys to the house that I'm sharing with my friends for the next year of University so I'm moving out for a bit. Since today was my last opportunity, I nicely asked my mum if we could go to Primark - only the best store in the world ever - because she buys me nice things and I'm always penniless throughout the school year. She didn't want to go but gave me her credit card to go and buy some new clothes, score! So, Broseph (that's brother) and I, set out to Bristol to go to the amaazing Primark store they have there.

I have a hard time spending money, even when it's not my own, I have no idea why - I just don't like spending large amounts of money. I could easily drop £40 on Nail Polish in a fortnight over 8 different occasions, but spending a big chunk at once doesn't come naturally to me - I'm sure there must be a psychological reason behind that but whatever.

So, I ended up buying:

a Cardigan, a T-shirt, a Mini Dress, two Skirts, a Pair of leather gloves, a Necklace and a Bag

I came away absolutely gutted that I had someone else's credit card and only bought 5 items of clothing. HOW?!

Anyway, here are the gloves and necklace

I saw these gloves here a while ago and NEEDED them from that instant. So when I spotted them today I knew they would end up in my basket.

I like to buy a new bag at least every term for school. This one's not very big so it may become obsolete within a few days of accumulating paper and books but in that case, it will also serve me well as an everyday bag!

What were your last Primark purchases?