{ • bloganistas # 1 • }

In the last couple of minutes, I've joined the Flickr group bloganistas. Bloggers post pictures of what they're wearing to the group pool and blow the myth that we all just sit around in trackie bottoms or jim jams out of the water.

I'm not a member of many groups on Flickr but it's hard to resist one who, out of a list of just five rules, have three rules about being nice to each other.

Cute!

My own first submission falls well short of the standard of the other members, in terms of content and of photo quality, but sure here it is:

* Necklace with ribbon tie, just seen: a|wear
* Top: Zara
* Bracelet: Penneys (Primark to those outside of Ireland)
* Skirt: Tokiki (from her Topshop concession)
* Leggings: Topshop
* fUggs: New Look
* Nail polish, for the eagle-eyed: Lancome BB Sand

Bib-stylee a|wear necklace

Penneys bracelet

Talon-tastic Thursday: Lancôme BB Sand

I didn't get on too well with My First Bottle of gold Lancôme nail varnish. The offending item was a bottle of Le Vernis in Pure Gold - you can read my review of it for Beaut.ie here - and I was fairly glum about the fact that I'd wasted €20.50 of my birthday money on it.
However, the gods of nail varnish smiled down upon me and I managed to swap it for a bottle of BB Sand from the SS10 Ô My Rose collection! (By the by, if you're not already using the swap function on Make Up Alley or the Swap Siopa on Beaut.ie, I recommend that you check them out without delay. Great for offloading stuff you're no longer using/don't like and getting lovely beauty bits in return.)

In complete contrast to its Pure Gold sister (boo, hiss) this stuff is only gorgeous. On first glance it looks like a bog standard clear varnish with bits of gold glitter - so far, so not too inspiring, and you couldn't really be blamed for passing over it at the Lancôme counter. But there's nearly more glitter than varnish in the bottle, so the glitter payoff is brilliant. One coat would be lovely for a twinkly French mani, but two coats is enough for damn-near-opaque sparkly talons provided you apply them carefully, and I recommend shaking/rolling the bottle between hands to keep things well mixed.
Obviously, being a complete glitter whore and very impatient, I ignored my own advice and went for a third coat for the full metal jacket effect, which is what's pictured.

BB Sand is a fab shade of gold, too - no rotten fag-stained-looking fingernails here - because there's silver particles of glitter in there as well as the obvious. Good thinking.
Throw on a top coat to prolong wear - as well as sealing the free edge of the nail, it'll prevent the glitter on the surface of nails from snagging.
Oh, and if you're wondering about the size of the glittery bits, well let me tell you that the next photo you'll see is an extreme close-up of the nail on my middle finger...

Total size of the section shown in this photo is approx. ½mm² In Real Life.

Yep, those are some seriously small sparkles!



What nail varnish or other lovely make-up bits are you wearing today?

No, no I still haven't found my phone.

Source

I've been putting it off for almost a fortnight now, but it's looking like I'm finally going to have to cave and buy a new phone. This is killing me for a couple of reasons, not least of which is the fact that I'm convinced my own misplaced mobile is actually in the house somewhere. I remember exactly where and when I saw it last - the dining table at 11.30pm on Friday 15th January, Garda - but despite retracing my steps and pleading with St. Anthony and searching for it in all sorts of improbable places like in the oven and under the boot liner of my car, it refuses to be found.

I also happen to really like the phone, a Sony Ericsson w890i. Slim and silver with a damn good camera and an FM radio to boot, I looked forward to owning one since before its launch. I've had it for just over 18 months and it was still in fairly good nick, although it had started turning itself off and then back on again in the middle of phone calls which was starting to properly get on my wick.

And I fecking know that as soon as I get a new one, the old one will surface again. Which would be good, in a way, because at least then I would have all my contact numbers and all the photos of nights out and fancy doors and trees laden with snow and the like that are stored on it. And I could agonise over whether to hoard it for nostalgia and old time's sake, or to try and make a few quid by selling it, or to salve my conscience by donating it to the likes of The Jack & Jill Foundation, which would keep me occupied for days - weeks, maybe. But it's not very green to buy a new phone and then find the old one and I think the eco worrier in me might implode with guilt if that were to happen.

Better just go and look in the couch... again.

Thirtieth time's the charm, right?

Talon-tastic Thur... Er, right.

Um, can we pretend that this series is called "Fab Finger Friday" instead..?

Anyway, here's what I'm wearing at the minute - applied yesterday with the intention of showing y'all - because having languished in the hideously uncool corner for decades, pastels are Very Big News In Make-Up this spring.

These were part of my birthday present from Mam.

Hey, what can I say. This is a woman who knows her stuff.

Full-size bottles are just €3.50 each - yes, even cheaper than Barry M! - but you can bag this kit of 4 minis for an almost ridiculously weeny €7. Perfect for trying out a rake of on-trend colours without too much cash commitment (and without the guilty knowledge that you'd never actually get to the bottom of a full-size bottle of any of these colours), I've found that two coats are a must to achieve bottle colour with no streaks.

And despite the fact that it was a day and a half before I got around to lashing on a topcoat, there wasn't a single chip in sight!


What nail varnish or other lovely make-up bits are you wearing today?

Is it really only Tuesday?

It's been a long couple of days.

I mislaid my phone on Friday night and so far there is no sign of it. It's like it has shagged off to that place where odd socks go to hide from their mates. (I have a bit of a phobia about mismatched socks.) The house and car have been turned upside down, and while there's no sign of the phonóg I have found a lollipop stick, assorted dust and crumbs, a pair of broken sunglasses, a ring, and the grand sum of €1.47 in change. St. Anthony has been asked for assistance - I'm hoping he'll oblige because I've promised to settle that old outstanding debt with him if he comes through for me. The green bin is the next port of call, but I've been putting that off all day because (a) it's really windy and I don't much fancy running around the estate trying to gather up blown away bits of paper and loo roll inserts, and (b) it's really windy and I don't much fancy being cold.

I rely on my mobile for chats, and since we've no landline and Himself is in the UK for work it's been very, very quiet around here. I would have collared the postman for a good chinwag about the weather if I'd seen him, and am considering pretending that I need milk or something just so that I can go to the shop around the corner to say hello and be asked for the money to cover the cost of my goods and say thanks.

Heady stuff.

Instead, I'm making raspberry and blueberry sorbet, attempting to sort out my car insurance, and trying to ignore a little voice in my head that's telling me to get my act together pronto.

Sure how can I possibly get my act together without a phone?!


Raspberry & Blueberry Sorbet - serves 4
(a "Rachel's Food For Living" recipe)

Ingredients
125g each of raspberries & blueberries
Juice of 1 large lemon
60ml stock syrup*

Method
Liquidise all the ingredients, push through a sieve to strain.

Pour the sorbet mix into a bowl, cover, and stick in the freezer. After 2 hours, take the bowl out and whisk, pop back in freezer.

Or, for complete fecking eejits like me: After 2 hours, take the bowl out, realise that you never strained out the pips, swear a lot, push the mix through a sieve to strain and go back to square one as regards freezing.

Repeat 2 hours later and add one slightly whisked egg white.


* Per the buke, I made 150ml of stock syrup (a.k.a. simple syrup, bar syrup and sugar syrup - so now you know) by putting 200g of caster sugar and 200ml water in a pan, bringing slowly to the boil while stirring to dissolve the sugar, and then boiling for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool before using - I'm keeping the extra in the fridge in a jam jar (minus the jam) for future foodie adventures. It's good for margaritas and the like too - yum.

Friday Finds: Etsy

I have yet to actually make purchase of an item from Etsy, but sure that doesn't stop me from trawling through the website and earmarking lovely looking items for potential procurement.

My Etsy top five for today are:

Kawaii deer rings, from $1.50

Panda Eyes sleep mask by thecupcakery, $12

It's Not Me 8x10" print by jaimers, $18

Chipmunk Coiffure 6x8" print by theblackapple, $16

Bird & birdcage wall decal by wiwicoco, $21.90

Who knew window fillum could look good?

So much window frosting film is just more than just a little naff and tacky. It reminds me of being in school, in classrooms where the lower portions of windows were obscured with privacy film to try and keep young minds from being distracted by the outside world. It was often poorly applied and usually looked the worse for wear, with ugly scars where students had tried to carve out see-through sections with compasses or fingernails.

This door is a million miles away from all that, though - check out its funky retro DIY decal:

Source

Kinda cool, no? Makes me want to put rolls of sticky opaque stuff on our windows, reach for the compass and get to work.

Well, nearly...

Talon-tastic Thursday: Bourjois Fuschia Hype

So, turns out it's pretty hard to take a photo of your hands and nails where they don't look completely weird. And it's a skill that, as you can probably see, I have yet to master.

Who knew? The likes of Scrangie and All Lacquered Up make it look so damn easy.

The (very loose) idea behind this series of posts is that it'll see to it that I'll put up, at the very least, one post a week here. And since I have more than a touch of ADD when it comes to nail varnish, it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll have a different colour on my talons from Thursday to Thursday.

Anyway, for today's inaugural Talon-tastic Thursday post, I'm wearing Bourjois So Laque! Ultra Shine nail varnish in shade 23, Fuschia Hype, to give it its full title, topped with a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (reviewed for Beaut.ie here.) You may remember that I was wearing its blurple (blue-purple, also the colour of my car) sister Blue Violet the day I was mauled by A Dangerous Breed.

Okay, nearly mauled.

Okay, fine, looked funny at by A Dangerous Breed.

These Ultra Shine polishes are enriched with double the vinyl of the original So Laque! formulations, and dry to such a high shine, super glossy finish that you could totally wear them alone - ideal for a night out where you're pushed for time and don't want to be foostering around with topcoats. Don't expect too much in the way of lasting power without a topcoat, though: worn on their tod, I find that I get a maximum of one day's chip-free wear.


What nail varnish or other lovely make-up bits are you wearing today?

I'm not difficult. I'm just, well, picky...

Are you stuck for something to get me for my impending birthday? Sure and who isn't, alannah. According to my sister, I am the most difficult person to buy for EVA, a statement which is always accompanied by very overdramatic waving of limbs and rolling of eyes.

Sheesh.

Every year for Christmas and my birthday, she (and Mam... and Himself...) demand that I draw up a big list of Things I Would Like To Receive As Presents, from which they will randomly choose bits and bobs so there is still some element of surprise.

Sometimes this works well. Sometimes it doesn't, like last Christmas when Himself and The Sister both presented me with tubs of Bobbi Brown creamy concealer and were not happy bunnies. Have to say, I didn't mind getting the same pressie from the pair of them and was only delighted with my year's supply of World's Greatest Concealer. And sometimes it descends into a bit of a farce, like when Mam insisted that I give my list over the phone this year and made me spell "Stieg Larsson" about a hundred times because the line was bad. Or when The Sister asked if I'd go with her to River Island when she was getting the laptop bag to make sure there were no little defects on the specimen she bought, or when she made me try on my birthday present (black one-shouldered sequinned party frock) last weekend to see if it fit/I liked it because the window of return-ity would be closing before my birthday rocked around.

In fairness, though, the fit of the dress wasn't 100%. And I wasn't cracked about it. And about the laptop bag... weeeell, I have been known to get obsessed about minor faults with things. Like, I have a Karen Millen skirt that has a fairly teeny tiny spot of a red wine stain on it, but when I put it on, all I can see is that stain.

So, er, maybe she just knows me too well.

Anyway, this all meant I mostly got gift vouchers or cash over Christmas, which as far as I'm concerned are the poifect presents. Regardless of what Himself or the Dilbert strip have to say about it.

La la la-la la la, siiing a happy song...

Have you ever had a day where you just took what The Mammy would call a bit of a notion about something that you wanted to wear? An item of clothing that, come hell or high heels, you were going to put on you?

Well, I had a bit of an episode like that this morning with this pair of blue tights. I'm pretty sure that at the time I handed over my hard-earned for them, I had all sorts of grand notions about the cool rigouts they'd be incorporated into.

Mmm.

I think I've worn them three times so far, and one of those was an outfit so truly wojus that it had to be aborted altogether.

- Smurfette tights™: Oasis
- Shoes: Penneys
- Dress (just seen): Topshop

Better late than never. Or something.

I was catching up with Jen's blog earlier today after my self-imposed Christmas internet hiatus when I came across some real "Now why didn't I think of that?!" stuff.

You see, over the course of the festive season, while I didn't exactly become a full-blown domestic goddess, I did do some baking.

I made my own mincemeat.

I made Himself carrot cake muffins for his birthday.

I made my own mince pies. (Some were star-topped, so the mince sort of oozed through. Some had full-coverage lids. They were all yum.)

And, er, that was about the height of it.

The biggest problem I had, after trying to decide if Himself was just blinded by love when he declared that the edibles he was given to test were fit for public consumption, was transporting the feckin' things. I actually had nothing to put them in. But this evening I discovered that, rather than just wrapping tin foil around baking trays when I was bringing the goodies over to the in-laws (for shame!), I could totally have dickied up a Pringles tube for the mince pies and either a Crunchy Nut Cornflake or Alpen No-Added Sugar box (the cereals of choice in our gaff) for the carrot cake muffins.

Sigh.

Making a bags of it.

One of the things I miss about my daily commute to work - actually, it might be the only thing I miss about it - is the people-watching opportunities it presented. Checking out handbags and ogling coats and drooling over boots and shoes... it was nearly like window shopping. Well, without the benefit of actually knowing where to procure the lustworthy item in question. And with the risk of being caught staring at someone's bag/coat/footwear like a fetish-y stalker freak.

Anyway, there was one handbag that I must have seen a gazillion times if I saw it once, and that was a black patent quilted shopper from River Island.

The "Love This" is River Island's sentiment, by the by, not my own.

It was damn near ubiquitous, and while I was rather taken with its patent, quilted ways, overall I disliked it intensely. I thought it was just, well, meh. Boring shape, and the badge - er, have Rock & Republic seen this? - just looks slapped on without a whole heck of a lot of thought. The reinforced hole yokes grommets for the handles are good news, because they usually mean you can load everything and the kitchen sink into a bag without worrying that weight will cause the handles to tear off it, but then those chain handles look like they'd shred your shoulder if they were put under any kind of pressure.

So I was a teensy bit surprised to fall hard for its sister laptop bag (which incidentally was part of my Christmas haul from my own sister!) It is done no justice whatsoever in the following photo from the RI website, but my camera is out of power and I'm not quite up to the mammoth task of rooting out the charger.

Doesn't actually have a little pot belly or faded side in real life.

The Rock & Republic River Island badge is a bit more logo-like, thanks to its encircling silver, well, circle, and the fact that it's on that foldover flap. And there are kind-to-your-shoulders inserts on the chain handles.

Now this, this is something I'd definitely have ogled from the bus.

Stripey McStripe

My sister got me the striped top in Zara as part of my Christmas present. I've been on the hunt for something like it since seeing this picture of my new girl/style crush Olivia Palermo in an old copy of Heat magazine:


Admittedly my outfit is rather less chic than Olivia's ensemble, but then I don't own a trenchcoat or a navy skirt, and it's a bit baltic at the minute for bare legs and high heels, and I'm only mucking around the house today.

And, of course, I'm headless.

Although I believe I do have the upper hand on the corsage front.

Eeeexcellent.

- Striped top: Zara
- Long navy cardi: Penneys
- Skinny jeans: Topshop
- Ankle boots: Penneys
- Necklace: Accessorize
- Corsage: Penneys

It's not Two Thousand And Ten. It's Twenty Ten. (I has decided.)

Happy New Year peoples! I hope Santy was good to you and that 2010 is going well so far.

I really only made one solemn resolution - to take off my make-up every night before going to bed. And, well, I've already broken it once.

In other news, I'll be 28 in a few days time.

Eek!