Happy Christmas

Hey there everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas spending it with your loved ones and exchanging those gifts that you picked out for each person aswell as enjoying all the food and drink.....I know I did, well apart from the drink that is haha.

Lush Wishlist

I'm one of those that has never tried anything from Lush, yep I can hear you all now with "whattt...you've never tried stuff from Lush?!". I guess it's just because I have the very annoying "sensitive skin" and if something doesn't agree with my skin it sure as hell lets me know about it, but in 2016 I am gonna make sure I at least try 1 thing from Lush...so I have made up a little wishlist of all the ones I want to buy first.

NOTW: Christmas Nails

Each year I usually do a set of Acrylic nails on myself with some sort of Christmas design on them, but this year I have opted out of Acrylics (mainly because I just haven't got the time to sit and do them!) and just to keep with my natural nails and paint those with nail varnishes I already own in Christmassy colours......is christmassy even a word??

My Christmas Playlist

Well its officially that time of the year where in my opinion its totally acceptable to be playing the Christmas music, and I don't mind a good Christmas song! The Christmas movies will be the next thing out for me so this is where Netflix will also come in handy haha. Most of these songs are the good old classic ones, and at the very bottom of the playlist i also have a bit of Leona Lewis with her song "One More Sleep" which is a very catchy song.

Monday Moments #1

I've seen these sort of list's on a variety of blog's over the past couple of months and they are always the kind of post's that I love to have a read through. It lets your readers know a little bit of what your enjoying at the moment, and is also a good way for others to find new stuff that they might wanna check out. So here is my first blog posts in the "Monday Moments" series on my blog.

Just A Little Update

As you already know I have a blogging schedule for this blog, which means Mondays are Nail related, Wednesdays are Beauty related and then Fridays are Lifestyle related blog posts.

Cloud 10 Beauty: 20% Off Sale

 

Today's blog post is just to let you all know about Cloud 10 Beauty's sale that is on at the moment, they are giving you all 20% off everything in there Christmas Store over on there website.

They have some gorgeous gifts over on there website, I've already been and had a quick look at the range of stuff that they have available, they have something for everyone in your life....right down to those stocking filler essentials!

So if your interested in having a look at whats on offer then be sure to click the banner below to be taken straight over to there website. The 20% off sale ends at MIDNIGHT on the 14th DECEMBER so be sure to get your orders in by then :-)

#2 - Cheaper Then'

A few blog post's ago you may remember I started a series on my blog called "Cheaper Then", and what it basically is, is me finding you a cheaper version of a more expensive product. In the first Cheaper Then blog post #1 - Cheaper Then I compared lip balms which with the cheaper version you could save up to £5.50 so be sure to check that post out.

Soap & Glory - The Righteous Butter

During the winter months for me I tend to notice I always start to get really dry skin, not too sure if its the weather that's doing it or its just the way my skin is. But either way it drives me mad it's just like why can't our skin just be one kind of way instead of a combination of different ways!

Nail Polish Tag

1 - How many nail polishes do you have?

Somewhere between 50 and 70 I think, I used to have way over the 150 mark but I recently got rid of all the old ones that looked a bit dried out. The ones in the pic are only a few of what I have.

Baking: Cookie Dough Pots

I'm one of those that loves to bake stuff and loves to try out baking new things (as long as I like the sound of it that is haha). I could easily spend a day just baking one thing after another which isn't always a good thing when your trying to eat more healthy!

Black Friday Bargain!

Now I've never been one of those who gets up at stupid o'clock on the day of Black Friday just to grab a quick bargain...or two, and this year was no different! But that still doesn't mean that you miss out on all the good deals that are happening to be around.

#1 - Cheaper Then'

Whilst down in London recently I went out shopping for a few bits, and whilst walking round Tesco's I came across an aisle that was full of stuff for £1.00. I was intending on buying a lip balm of some sort as my lips get really dry as the cold weather starts approaching, and I came across lip balms by the brand Lip Silk and they really reminded me of a lip balm that I had been looking at online a few weeks before.

NOTW: Nail Of The Week

This week's NOTW: Nail Of The Week is by the much loved brand Barry M in the colour "Dead Heat". As like with most red nail varnishes it is a proper classic red colour that goes well with any outfit and can be worn throughout the year.

I'm a big fan of Barry M nail varnishes and usually buy a couple every few weeks, but this is the first one in the "speedy quick dry" collection that I've tried before, and after using this one I will definitely be purchasing more very soon!

5 Blogs I Would Recommend

These 5 blogs that I am gonna recommend to you all are blogs that I follow on BlogLovin' and are ones that I always read. I may have only commented a couple of times on their blog posts but not all of them, but do rest assure that I read every post! I really have got to get better at commenting on other people's blog posts as I'm a nightmare in doing so.

Acrylic Nails

As some of you may or may not know, I am a qualified Nail Technician who is able to do both Acrylic and Gel nails...although I much prefer using acrylic than I do gel.
I've been qualified for about 3 years now and passed my course with a distinction which I was rather happy about, as I was one of those that left secondary school half way through year 10 and never got my GCSE's...naughty I know.

So in today's blog post I thought I would just share a few pictures of some of the nail's that I have done either on myself or on other people, obviously these ain't every set of nails I've done but just a few that I've picked out.

Currently Reading

Just lately I've been trying to read more than I have been, I used to read all the time then I just stopped and I'm not sure why. So I've decided to try and read between 1 and 2 books each month usually just to wind down before bed as I spend way too much time on the laptop of a night time and usually don't end going to bed until about 3am, and always end up regretting it the next day when I'm struggling to stay awake lol.

Barry M: Nail Purchases

If you managed to have a read of last weeks nail post which was a November's Nail Wishlist, then you may have seen these next 3 items on that list. After paying bills/rent and all the other stuff us adults have to do, I decided to treat myself to a couple of new Barry M nail paints. I chose to go for these particular 3 as firstly they were on my wishlist and secondly I'm currently building up my collection of Barry M ones, as I find they apply so nicely and are good value for money.

Stationery Haul

Now I've always been one of those people who love a good pen, you know they type of pen that makes your handwriting look really neat....yeah thats me haha. Infact I think I just love stationery in general, before any of these blog post's even get typed up, they are written out in a notebook and it's only then I will edit them as I'm typing them up to schedule.

So in today's blog post I thought I would share with you the last few bits of stationery that I purchased and where I got them and for how much.

Novembers Nail Wishlist

For today's blog post I thought I would share with you a few nail bits and bobs that I want to hopefully purchase soon, obviously not at the same time though haha. I know the Tanya Burr Beauty Calender isn't all nails, but it does have nail stuff in it.

Baking: Vanilla Cupcakes

Whilst having my niece's and nephew, Megan, Louie and Mia up to stay with us for a week, it only made sense to do some baking with them. We chose to bake some cupcakes with vanilla extract mixed in with them and then topped with a mint green buttercream icing and a few decorations.

So here is the recipe that I use whenever I choose to make some cupcakes:

The Body Shop Haul

A couple of weeks ago now The Body Shop were doing an offer that was just too good not to take advantage of, the offer this time was if you spent over £50.00 you could get £25.00 off of your end total, which I personally think is brilliant.

NOTW: Nail Of The Week

This weeks NOTW: Nail Of The Week is a nail varnish by Tanya Burr and its in the colour "Midnight Sparkles". I'm a big fan of these nail varnishes so much in fact the last NOTW I did was also one by Tanya Burr but in the colour Penguin Chic, you can read that Nail Of The Week HERE.

Blossoming Gifts - Sweet Autumn*

I was recently contacted by Hannah from Blossoming Gifts asking if I was interested in doing a collaboration with them in their Autumn flowers range, and loving fresh flowers of course I agreed to do the collaboration with them, as now the hayfever season has chilled itself out I can start to enjoy fresh flowers.

Blossoming Gifts are a new and exciting flower delivery company that are based in the UK and they specialise in beautiful florist designs at a low cost. They offer a wide range of both flowers and gifts on there website and all at affordable prices aswell. With there flower delivery range there is free delivery on all bouquets, and on selected flower bouquets there is also a free box of chocolates and who doesn't love a box of chocolates.

The Body Shop Vs Sniffy Wiffy

Why comparing these 2 handcreams I hear you ask?!

Just lately I've managed to try handcreams from both of these companies, and luckily they are both in the same scent aswell which is Mango.

The Body Shop handcream I received for free with an order I made online a little while ago and the handcream from Sniffy Wiffy came inside the September's version of the Bloggers Beauty Box.
After using them both for a little while, the idea for this blog post came into mind and so here I am currently writing it up.

Tanya Burr: Nail Varnish Review

A few weeks back now I was having a look online at the Superdrugs website and noticed that they had sets of nail varnishes by Tanya Burr on sale at just £2.00 each, I think this was just down to them being in the old packaging as her new stuff had just been released. So obviously I decided to buy 3 sets, 2 sets being the same as I'm doing one as a giveaway as soon as I reach one of my blog goals, I won't say what blog goal it is just yet I'm gonna leave that as a surprise until I get it.

Primark Travel Mugs

If you follow me over on Instagram @nailbeautylife then you may have figured out by now that I'm slightly obsessed with coffee.....maybe coffee is the reason I don't sleep too well of a night time?!

Wilkinson's Dry Shampoo

We all know by now what dry shampoo is and how much of a lifesaver it can be when you just have not got the time to wash your hair, may it be you've slept past your alarm and your in a rush to be somewhere, or your just too lazy and don't like washing your hair everyday....I'm guilty of that one haha.

Halloween: Ghoulish Nail Tutorial

Today's blog post as promised in the newly set blogging schedule is a nail blog post.

So I thought I would start off with an easy Halloween nail art tutorial. Usually I would do these kind of tutorials using Acrylic on the nails - that's the nail technician in me with acrylic - but I'm fully aware that many of you may not have easy access to those products. So I've kept it basic just by using nail varnishes and nail tools (hey there bobby pins) that you are most likely to already have in your homes.

Nail-Beauty-Life: Blogging Schedule

I thought it was about time Nail-Beauty-Life had a proper planned out blogging schedule, in the past I posted every 2 days, then I took it down to every 3 days but I haven't really stuck to these when I've been down visiting family in London. 

Throwback Thursday

Today's blog post is a bit of a look back on some old photos, hence the title of the post "Throwback Thursday". I've chosen 4 of my favourite photo's of myself when I was a lot younger than I am now, so I will go through each of them one at a time and if I can remember I will let you know exactly what I was doing in each picture.

NOTW: Nail Of The Week

This week's NOTW: Nail Of The Week is in the colour "Penguin Chic" and its by Tanya Burr.
I waited quite a while before purchasing any of the Tanya Burr collection, just for the fact that I decided to put myself on a "September Nail Varnish Ban" as I'm always buying nail varnishes and have way too many, so I decided I needed to start using some of the ones I already had first.
By the time the September ban had come to an end Tanya's new range had been released with all new packaging, which meant all the ones in the old packaging went on sale so I ended up buying 2 of the sets of nail varnishes at a bargain price of just £2.00 each instead of the usual £14.99! Bargain!

Everyday Products That I Use

Tea Tree Skin Clearing Moisturiser - This has been my go to moisturiser for nearly 3 years now, it took me ages to find the right moisturiser for me as I used to suffer pretty bad with acne when I was younger and the slightest thing on my face would tend to break me out. This moisturiser leaves my skin feeling soft & moisturised throughout the day and because it also has tea tree in it, it helps stops my skin from breaking out as bad as it used to!

Introducing The Pets

I thought I would do a bit of a lifestyle post today, introducing you all to my 3 pets of the family, which are made up of 2 cats and 1 dog who go by the name of Gizmo, Milo and Lana. I haven't done many lifestyle posts just lately so thought why not do one as my next blog post whilst I was looking through all my photos that are piled up on my laptop.

Love/Hate: Facebook vs Twitter

    

Now we all have that one thing that we have a love/hate relationship with and mine is between Facebook and Twitter. Before I started blogging I used to hate Twitter and very rarely used it and I was always over on Facebook, but since my blog started up it's kind of been a reversible role whereas I now much prefer Twitter to Facebook.

Carry on reading the rest of the blog post, to find out what I think about both of these popular social networking sites.

Instagram Picture Update

For today's blog post I thought I would just do a quick Instagram update of the last 6 pictures that I uploaded onto my blogs Instagram account, after you have finished reading this post if you would like to follow me over on Instagram then you can do so by clicking HERE to be taken to my blog account on there.

NOTW: Nail Of The Week

This week's nail of the week is one that was featured in my "Autumn Nail Colours" which can be seen here. It's by the brand Barry M and it's one of there Gelly Nail Paints in the colour Lychee.

Blogger Beauty Box

Today's blog post is gonna be all about the Blogger Beauty Box, which is Septembers box and it's contents. This particular box is just £10 which includes the post & packaging and there is only a certain amount of boxes available each month.

Now I've tried quite a few "beauty boxes" from different brands and with this one I like the fact that it's not a subscription box that you get charged for each month without fail. With this particular one you only pay for it if you sign up to the reserve list and then wait for the email asking you to pay for it if you've been lucky enough to secure one of the boxes.

How I Edit My Instagram Photos

Today's blog post is gonna be showing you how I edit my Instagram photo's and what apps I use to do it with. Before this all I would do is just crop the photo into a square and just adjust the sharpness on it a bit to make the photo look that little bit clearer.
But then a few weeks ago I decided I wanted to re-image my blogs Instagram profile, which you can find by clicking HERE (if you want to follow aswell to help with my goal of 50 followers that would be nice aswell haha).
So I took to Pinterest and just typed in "Instagram Photo Ideas" just so I could have a look to see what "themes" I could find on there. At one point I think I spent about 2 hours just reading all different pages on there on how best to edit photo's.

August's Playlist

This blog post was supposed to go up at the end of August, but I didn't have a photo to go with it seeing as I was down in London so I had to wait till I got home so I could sort a photo out for it. But hey we are only 5 days into September so I thought I would still put this post up, as they say its better late then never!

Every month I usually make myself a playlist up on Spotify that has anything between 10 to 15 songs on, and which are usually my most listened to songs during that month. This month I only had 10 that I was really listening to so it was those songs that made August's Playlist.

These 10 songs I will list below for you to have a look at:

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

After seeing and hearing loads of really good reviews about this product, I decided to give it a try as I kept reading that it made people skin feel really clean and soft after using it. So whilst I was doing shopping in Asda's I spotted this mini bottle of Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water for just £1.00 so I thought whilst it was at that price I would give it a try and see how I felt about it.

Was it a boy or a girl?

One of the reason's for coming down to London for 10 days, was to go out for the family meal so that my sister, her boyfriend and hes son could reveal to all of us what the new baby was gonna be....was it gonna be a boy or a girl.
They found out in the morning but then the answer was all sealed in an envelope to be revealed to everyone else after everyone had eaten which I think was about 8:30pm, so we all had quite a long while to wait haha.
It was the new babys soon to be big brother Charlie that revealed it to everyone that there was gonna be a new little boy joining the family next year which is rather exciting!

The meal was rather lovely, I ended up having a chicken & bacon burger with sweet potato chips and barbecue sauce, it was absolutely lovely! After letting that go down for a bit I then got a dessert of cookie dough cheesecake with ice-cream and chocolate sauce....that was rather sickly though and I only managed to eat half of it, none went to waste tho as my sister finished it off for me haha.

London Bound

This picture has been taken from my personal Instagram account: clairejoanne1986

Today which is the 20th August I will be travelling down to London and won't be home until the 1st September ahh. I am off to visit family as I haven't been down in what feels like forever, although I have had family up here to visit for a week, this trip will be special for 2 occasions.....firstly it will be my oldest niece's birthday and she will be 12 and secondly on the 25th I get to find out whether it will be a new niece or a new nephew that will be arriving into the family in January as that will be when my sister finds out what she is having.

Pontypool Park

On Saturday 8th August whilst we had family down visiting for the week, we decided to go over to Pontypool Park. We chose this park as the swing park is mainly aged for the younger kids I would say those aged between the ages of 2 and 7 as the only thing that's really there for the older kids is the little skate park that's separated from the park in an enclosed fencing area. So we knew by taking my niece over to this park she would get to go on a variety of things that she would enjoy as she is only 4 years old.

Snapfish: Summer Photo Gifts*

I was recently contacted via email by the team over at Snapfish UK and was kindly offered £40.00 worth of free credit to use on there site to create myself some of there gifts that are listed in there bestsellers category.

Snapfish UK are a online photo company who provide a range of products from small photo prints, to canvas prints, posters, photo books, mugs, calenders and a whole other variety of things to choose from.

I decided to choose a Slim Canvas Print and also a Collage Poster as these 2 products seemed to be the perfect fit for what I wanted to get put onto them. On the Slim Photo Canvas I chose the picture of my niece looking out at the sea with Brighton Pier in the background, and on the Collage Poster I chose a variety of pictures of my niece Daisy as it's always nice to see just how far shes come from when she was born.

This Weeks List Of Things To Do

I'm always one of those that has a notepad that is usually full of blog posts that I've written up whilst I've not been at my laptop. There is also usually a load of list's of stuff that I need to get done or that I want to achieve by a certain day/time.
So in this blog post I thought I would share with you my list that I want to get done for this week, there's 3 different sections to it which are: Blog List, Technology List and then there's a Life List.

NOTW: Nail Of The Week

Quote Of The Day: "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy nail varnish and that's kinda the same thing" 

This weeks NOTW (nail of the week) is one by the brand Maybelline and it's in the colour called "Knitted Gold". It's a gorgeous gold glittery colour, and is the perfect summery glittery colour, or at least I think it is anyway. As with most glitter nail varnishes, this has a mixture of both fine and chunky glitter, I always make sure to apply a base coat before applying any type of glitter to my nails as it just helps to protect your nails a little bit.

Recent eBay Purchases

Anyone who knows me well will know that I do love a bargain, and what better place to look for stuff at cheaper prices than what they would be in a shop would be good old eBay.
If I had the money I could easily spend a fortune on there, but for now I just purchase bits at a time, I've always been into photography so building up the stuff to ensure I can take good photo's I've started buying little bits and pieces from eBay.

So in today's blog post I thought I would share with you my 5 most recent purchases.

Photography

The British Tag

1 - How many cups of tea do you have a day? And how many sugars?
To be honest I don't really drink tea that much, I only tend to drink it when I have a really bad headache as I find it really does help, I would usually have just 2 sugars but if I'm having tea because of a headache then I will have 3 sugars.