Starstruck

On Friday night I met Alex Zane, my MTV crush of many many years, and I was well and truely star struck. He was a complete sweetheart, and seemed to be having a ball DJing to this lot:



So nice when you meet a celeb and they turn out to be exactly how you hoped they would be:)

Went shopping with my mum on Friday and picked up a few bits and pieces so I'll do a mini haul post very soooon.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend:)

Holly xx

Gel Nails, Cadburys & Example

Not one for acrylic nails, I not long ago discovered my love for 'Bio Sculpture' nails.
Basically what this 40 minute or so treatment involves is much the same as having your nails painted as normal, however instead of having polish applied, a gel formulation is polished on to your natural nails. Firstly, a thin layer of base gel is applied. Because I opt for the French Manicure look (i'll explain my preference in a moment), i only have the clear base gel applied, with a layer of white gel swiped over my nail tips. Between each layer, you place your hand in this little contraption with a light in it to set the gel. At my salon, the treatment costs £30, and £15 for infills once your colour grows out. That is one of the reasons I opt for the French Manicure, as it hardly shows your nail growth due to the clear gel. Obviously with coloured gel you would start to see nail growth. These are my nails after three weeks, completely intact and chip free.



If I had painted my nails myself, I would have chipping most likely by the next day, which is the main reason I adore having gel nails. Not only do they look fantastic and so clean looking (another reason I love the french manicure), but my natural nails grow and strengthen beneath the gel, perfect for those who find it difficult to grow their nails.

What I would say as a negative to this treatment is that getting the gel nails removed is a bit of hassle, and I would highly recommend having them removed by your nail technician as opposed to removing them yourself. It involves soaking your nails in acetone for a long period of time and is just generally very time consuming and doesn't always work.

On the whole, however, much love for gel nails :)

In other news, I am in the process of consuming this badboy:


Much love for dairy milk also.

Last night, the wonderful Elliot Gleave aka EXAMPLE (of Watch the Sun Come up & Won't Go Quietly fame) performed at my university. It wasn't my day to do promo work however I was lucky enough to be allowed to go backstage before and after his show and watch the performance from the side of the stage. He is an excellent performer, if you havnt already heard his music I would head on over to youtube and check him out:)



Dress: New Look
Makeup is a combo of MAC and Barry M, with Girls Aloud 'Sarah' falsies:)

Alex Zane is doing a DJ set tomorrow night, very excited to work with him!
Hope you all have a fun weekend:)

Holly xx

Product Rave: Batiste!

Image from Google.

This is by no means a new product, however I am a firm believer that you can't get much better in terms of dry shampoo than Batiste. I can say this confidently after trying several different, more expensive dry shampoo from more renowned hair brands, from the likes of Mark Hill et al.
From all the dry shampoos I have road tested, cheap and cheerful Batiste has always been a winner for me :)

I purchase mine from Asda for £1.99 which, considering it is an absolute hair saviour, is such good value for money. Not only do I use this product to revive my hair between washes, but even after I've washed my hair and im going out and I feel it needs a little added volume, I'll spray on some Batiste and my hair is instantly volumised. Lovelovelove it! They have expanded their product umbrella by incorporating a Brunette formulation to cater for those who find the original Batiste leaves noticable residue in their dark hair. Being blonde I do not have this problem, however it is nice that the brand have recognised the issue and provided a solution (albeit at a slightly higher retail price). Batiste also comes in a variety of scents...I buy the pink one 'Blush'.

Big thumbs up!

Holly xx

Happy Valentines

I realise that the title of this post is a little belated, however I have been bedbound with the flu since Monday morning so I havnt had a chance to do a blog post!

So however you spent your Valentines, I hope you had a lovely day! I know its not everybodys cup of tea for whatever reason, but im a bit of a mushy one and have always had a soft spot for Feb 14th. Last year was a disaster for reasons I wont disclose, however le boyfriend had bigstyle making up to do this year, and he came through! Just thought I'd share some pictures with you in terms of what I wore etc :)

My evening began with a very cryptic set of instructions to follow:


This is the dress I wore (ignore my graduation head poking out of the top..possibly the most unsexy hat in the world!):

Dress: Lipsy London (originally £145, down to £70 in the online sale)

The new shoes:

Off the top of my head I can't remember the name of the shop that these are from. I have an Outfit store near where i live which has loads of different shop sections within it (Burtons, Topman/Topshop, Miss Selfridge) and so on, and I can't remember which section it was from, but they were £40.

So the boyfriend took me to a beautiful Italian restaurant that I have literally been itching to go to, called Nolitas. It is a frequent haunt for Tottenham footballers and generally has a fairly wealthy clientele...however by booking three months in advance le boyfriend ensured we snagged a table for valentines! This is just a shot of the beautiful piano in the lobby.


Below is a picture of me trying to get a decent shot of my dress from behind in the hotel mirror, semi-successfully! The boyfriend took me to stay at Sopwell House, a beautiful hotel in Hertfordshire where football teams (most regularly the England team!) stay after matches. The halls are lined with signed football shirts of all the teams who have stayed there. I'm sure you can see a theme now...footballers restaurant, footballers hotel..im just dying to spot one;) haha.


All in all a very wonderful and romantic evening, tainted only by my impending flu!

Hope you are all having a lovely week so far:)

Holly xx

Hola lovlies.

Not much to report on the beauty front. I have dug out a jar of Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse that I forgot I had, and I must say, it's really good! I think the problem I had with it in the first place was that I never use to moisturise before applying foundation. Now, I couldnt imagine not incorporating a moisturiser of some sort into my makeup routine. My favourite has to be the No. 7 tinted moisturiser, its lovely:)

Just a quick pic from Friday night at Flirt! The outfit was in aid of 'Pimps and Hoes' fancy dress, I wasn't about to try my luck on Kings Cross corner!
That handsome chappy with me is Radio 1's lovely Reggie Yates. He was in a bit of a hurry but kindly stopped for a picture, after providing the students of Uni Hertfordshire with a fantastic DJ set. Thanks Reggie!


Holly xx

RE: Previous post

Not overly impressed with the baby pink shade...in reality it comes out a very garish bright barbie pink, remiscent of the colour of a tacky pink limo. Not a good look. Learning curve :)

Holly xx

George @ ASDA

Today I was in ASDA, buying bread (as you do!) when I stumbled across a nifty little bargain!
George nailpolishes are currently on sale for..wait for it...£1! In all fairness they retail at £1.50 normally which is a bargain in itself, but at £1 a go I couldnt resist picking up a couple.

The polish photographed above (and I apologise again for my webcam, it isnt wonderful I know!) is a greyish lavender colour. It pretty much comes out on the nail exactly as it looks in the bottle, which is pleasing as some nailpolishes come out completely unexpected.

In terms of application, it went on quite well! On one hand I have done two coats and on the other only one, and there really is no difference between the two. I have only just painted them so I don't know about their lasting power so far but I'll keep you informed.

What I love about this polish is that it dries in absolutely no time at all. Big thumbs up to that.

In terms of the colour, Im a little unsure if I like it. Its a case of I don't dislike it, but I don't love it either, so im a little unsure for the time being. I also bought a pretty baby pink colour so i'll give that a try and see how that comes out!

So if you feel like opting for a cheap and cheerful nail polish, head on down to ASDA :)

Holly xx

Fake Tan Royalty

So of course you have all heard of St Moriz fake tan.
Praise for this badboy has been circulating the blogosphere for months, infact, it was Lollipop26's youtube review of this product that first enticed me into the world of beauty blogs/vlogs.
I'm not blogging about it today to talk about how amazing it is (although it really is very good!), but more to pick up on a negative that people have mentioned in regards to this product.
Some people have said that initially they absolutely love it, however after a few days it starts to go patchy.
I for one do not have this problem with St Moriz, which I pin down to the way in which I apply it, which might be slightly differently to the way it is applied by those who find it goes patchy on the skin (or it might not, but its worth trying to get to the bottom of the problem, right?:) )

Obviously the first step is to exfoliate the skin. All good tanning advice urges that you do this before applying fake tan, to prep the skin and remove all dead skin cells.
The next step is to moisturise. I do not moisturise all over after iv showered an exfoliated. Instead, I moisturise each body part directly before applying the fake tan to it. If im tanning my legs, I'll moisturise my left leg and tan that, before moisturising my right leg and tanning that. I find this way that the moisturiser helps the fake tan to spread more evenly.

To apply the tan, I use a SolTan tanning mitt from Boots. I used to use my hands, but its a messy process and the tanning glove really helps to distribute the product evenly all over my skin.

How much of the product you use is entirely a personal preference dependant upon how tanned you wish to look, so I will say no more on that :)

I tend to apply my fake tan a day or two before the event for which I wish to look tanned (for example, I do my promotional work on a Friday night so its nice to look tanned and healthy for it, therefore I'll either apply my fake tan on the wednesday night, or the Thursday), and this is due to a number of factors.

The Smell: I am yet to come across a fake tan that doesnt smell horrible...think a strong biscuity smell, not very attractive. If I apply the fake tan on the day I wish to look tanned, I am going to be walking around smelling like a biscuit. To eliminate the smell completely, I like to get two showers in before I am due to go out. It is recommended that you wait at least 8 hours after applying the tan before you shower. If I apply the tan on the Wednesday night, I will go to bed with it on (am yet to encounter sheet staining!) and then shower on Thursday and go about my day. Then shower as normal on Friday, and by friday evening I will be tanned and smelling completely non-offensive:) On the Thursday there is the chance I'll be walking around smelling biscuity, but not much that can be done about it!

The benefit of several showers before the event for which you wish to look tanned is also that you can wash off all the excess product, and leave yourself with an incredible natural looking tan. I find that after application, I'll wake up looking pretty orangey. This is only due to the excess product, and after a shower this tones right down to a lovely golden brown.

To prolong the tan, moisturise daily. This advice applies for natural tans and is the same for fake tans. If your skin becomes dry then there is a higher chance of the fake or natural tan peeling or becoming patchy. I find that moisturisation every day will prevent this :)

Hopefully this wasnt a complete parroting of tanning advice thats been given before, I just find that this is the process that works best for me as I have never had any problem with my fake tanning application :)

Holly xx