In the Pink

I've been experimenting with my manicure recently and trying different colour combos. For the first time I tried a graduation colour manicure where you paint your nails using one shade from light to dark. What do you reckon?

The colours used from thumb to pinky are: Revlon Passion Fruit, Nails Inc Strawberry Hill, Nails Inc Brompton Place, Nails Inc InStyle Candy and Barry M Berry Ice Cream.

I did get a lot of admiring glances and comments so will be doing this again soon, but which colour palette should i choose next?

Smartie nails

I've been meaning to try this trend for different colour nails for a while now after spying twitpics from Fearne Cotton and Rochelle Wiseman (below).

I wish i could accessorise with that YSL ring - jealous!

With such a huge collection of polishes I'm so indecisive on which colour to paint my nails next, so choosing five solves that and it's also a great way to use up my old polishes. Before anyone complains of plagiarism i want to say credit does go to Make Up Savvy and 25Flondon who blogged about it first.

Seriously you don't know how many attempts it took to try and hold five polishes in one hand and get an alright picture!

Trying to get a bit artistic!

And the polishes in question i used are:
- Barry M Berry Ice Cream (lilac)
- Revlon Blue Lagoon (pale blue)
- Rimmel Apricot Punch (coral)
- Revlon Minted (mint green)
- Nails Inc Spitalfields (yellow)

I really liked the effect and it definitely stops me from getting bored too quickly i can't wait to try it on my toes for summer. Next up i think I'll do graduation nail colours if i can round up enough of the same shade.

A week of nails

Colour blocking is one of my favourite trends for S/S 11 but it's not always a look that can transcend to the office.

Camilla Belle works the look perfectly in head-to-toe Gucci.

My take is to add a bright nail polish that clashes with your top and job done!

Monday - Nails Inc Brompton Place

Tuesday - Nails Inc Spitalfields

Wednesday - Revlon Pretty In Papaya

Thursday - Barry M Berry Ice Cream

Friday - Nails Inc Hanover Street

Hope you love the colours as much as i do!

I only went to return a jumper!

I've just had a very eventful afternoon of shopping today. I only went to return my Warehouse camel sweater and ended up with bags of shopping - eek! V.naughty!

The purpose of this visit was to try and exchange my camel jumper for another colour. I did buy mine online and the colour just seems to wash me out so i was hoping i could sneakily do an exchange in my Outfit - simple eh? Oh no, unless you don't mind a little bit of embarrassment don't try to con/lie to a sales assistant they always seem to catch you out - damn! Tried to say i had lost my receipt and do a quick exchange for the purple colour, even though it still had the labels attached the sales assistant was having none of it. "You can't return items to concession stores blah, blah, blah. Looks like a trip to the post office is in order.

The camel jumper is question... ...you see looks very nice online, but in the flesh the colour has more of a gold tone to it - definitely not great for my complexion, but love the gold buttons - thumbs up for detail. The fabric is ever-so soft as well - cashmere it is not, a viscose blend.



 
I couldn't do the exchange but still bought the dark purple jumper as an ideal winter piece.
 

I am a little disappointed this colour didn't have the gold buttons, as i do love gold accessorising, but the grey/black still work. The belt was a sale bargain from Miss Selfridge only £12, i had my eye on this before but £25 was a bit steep for belt. This will probably become my LBD's best friend.
 
Now i have a thing for black trousers, i love them, whether its jean, jeggings, leggings, harems, chinos - i don't care but i do live in them. Warehouse and Dorothy Perkins both have some great sort of soft suede trousers in at the moment which i am loving. Ever since harem became en vogue for summer, i have been embracing my inner MC Hammer and working them to death. I was torn between two pairs, i went with Dorothy Perkins because they were a little cheaper and look a bit smarter so i can just add heels for work.
 

You can't really see the detailing clearly in the picture, but they come with a tie belt and have low slung pockets and a tight ankle.
 
I reckon that's tomorrow's work outfit sorted.
 
I've been after a new make-up bag for ages but I've been looking for some pretty ones that will add some glamour to my office desk. I've been using the free Topshop one up until now but as it's cream I'm struggling to keep it clean not to mention the pen marks that seem to keep appearing!
 
Ted Baker is usually my fail-safe and i headed to Boots to pick this one up.
 

I'm not usually one for florals but purple is my favourite colour and i love the bow - v. pretty. Best of all i used my Boots points so if didn't cost me anything!

I've been determined to turn into a gym bunny especially before the onslaught of Christmas with all the parties and meals going on, not to mention the amount of chocolates and biscuits appearing daily in the office, so i was in need of some stylish gymwear that will distract from the day's make-up sweating down my face. A quick nip into Sports Soccer and I'm £65 lighter but two sports bras, two sports tops and a pair of tight fit trousers/leggings heavier - all set for Wed, Thurs and Fri gym sesh. Pre-gym OOTD's to follow soon.

My final splurge was a cheap one courtesy of Barry M and Saskia The Style Fairy - saw it their first. I have to rave about their new nail paint, Instant Nail Effects £3.95 which is a top coat that creates a nail art effect on top of your already painted nails. Hard to explain but have a look - this is definitely the future of nails.

I've only painted the little finger nail as you can see - it was hard to pick up on camera but i tried, see below.
 

I love it - so I'm off now to paint the rest - what do you think?