BURKATRON

I have a new addition to my fingers this week; a neon purple courtesy of qvc's 20th birthday collab with nails inc!  the polish itself is a perfect autumn shade, rich but vivid. I love nails inc polishes so I was expecting a good colour and I wasn't disappointed when it arrived.  it takes roughly 3 coats for full coverage, if you paint thick coats you may get away with 2 but my manicurist friend told me to paint thinner coats as your mani will last longer and chip less.. top tip!  as it's a neon I knew the finish wouldn't be super glossy (which is pretty much always my preference!) but the shade is a winner so I can overlook the lack of glossiness this time!  nails inc chiswick park polish and caviar top coat*  the kensington caviar top coat is lovely, it gave the perfect wet look finish to the neon purple. I like my nails to have this high gloss finish and it dried quickly so I'll be using this top coat again. there are some other lovely sets on offer at the mi...

blogging can be a time consuming business.  I'm slightly in love with my little baby so being immersed in writing, editing and planning on a daily basis is quite normal for me. the only time I find it all a little stressful is when my schedule is busy or I'm away from home. I always find the best way to keep blogging fun is simply to stay organised so I avoid having little meltdowns! I went away twice last month and the thought of not posting for a while terrified me at first.. it can be a struggle to keep a healthy balance between work, personal life and blogging (I'm often up late replying to emails, editing photos and juggling freelance work.) I've never wanted to get to the point where blogging became a chore and thankfully it hasn't. I think it's because I always try to stay inspired for whats ahead; whether it's a DIY I'm excited to try or a nail art tutorial that I think someone will love.  my kindle fire table arrived from argos just before I le...

after what feels like forever we're finally coming to the end of the renovations.. the boy and I are finally making progress.. yippee! I just had to finish one little area to give me an incentive for the final push and I was excited to show you my new lamp and reclaimed cabinet (I'm such an eager beaver!) our first proper purchase was this vintage cabinet, we stumbled across it at a local dealers and I absolutely love it. we manged to knock the price down to £25- quite good considering I'm terrible at haggling normally! I need to give it a little TLC and a wax but it'll be great for storing (some) of my endless clutter..  I picked up the small paisley trays at zara home who have the most gorgeous textiles and the novelty night lights are from iceland  (I've just started reading the casual vacancy by jk rowling.. has anyone else read this?) my other new addition is this ever so slightly AMAZING table lamp*  I was sent from out there interiors. I've wanted to comb...

I actually painted these nails a while ago! I'd thought I'd pop them up so you could see them before they disappeared into the nail art archives never to be seen again! maybeline colour show in nebline* I used a beautiful shade called nebline from the maybelline colour show range. the colour is a perfect pastel pink but that's the only positive I have for this polish as I found the formula really disappointing!  I've only used two colours from this range and both needed an excessive amount of coats for full opacity (I found the yellow in the colour show range needed at least 5 coats!)  (the price range is very affordable at £2.99 but I have to say for the same price range I'd rather invest in a barry m polish)  I've gone for a basic leopard/animal print which is great for beginners!  I began by drawing silver circles and then just outlined them with a black nail art pen once they dried. add a few random dots here and there to break up the spaces and seal with to...

wowza it's been a while since I first painted this nail art... an oldie but a goodie! I figured that some of you wouldn't have seen these (I first painted them just over a year ago here ) I never posted a full tutorial and I wanted to show you how I did them! I've used one of my all time favourite colours  models own beth's blue as the base. the formula of this colour is crazy good- I'm wearing just one coat in the photos below. so here's the steps I've used! first start off with the base colour and leave to dry next use a white nail art pen to draw a white circle, dab small dots around the edges to create these 'cloud' shapes above. next use a dotting tool to add a small dot of a light and dark pink to suggest flowers, then dot on greens to suggest leaves. finish off the design by adding tiny white dots in a circle shape around each flower centerpiece (it's important to space out your design so you have enough room to do this!) seal with topcoa...

easy peasy nail art coming up! I've been playing with some items that I've received from superdrug- one of which happens to be these bourjois manicure toppings. I'm so late to the party on this one (call myself a nail art blogger huh?) I love painting my nails but not everyone has the time or inclination for fancy pants nail art so this is a great one which takes no skill at all (seriously even my boyfriend could master this one!)  start off with a base colour, I've was given this lovely peppermint rimmel polish for some recent nail features so I decided to give it a whirl! I'm not sure why but I barely own ANY rimmel polishes, I have my favourites and I tend to stick with them so poor old rimmel hasn't had a look in for a while now.  I've seen quite a few glowing reviews on them lately especially these salon pro offerings; now I've tried one I would totally purchase these in future as they're under a fiver and it hasn't chipped once (watch out ...

I painted some simple 1920's inspired nail art that I'd I thought I'd share with you today! nails inc grosvenor gardens & queen victoria street * I immediately thought of the great gatsby movie when I opened these polishes! they're quite an opulent pair so I decided an art deco design would be appropriate to show off the jewel tones and rich glitters. queen victoria street  is a beautiful polish, it's also an absolute nightmare to photograph! I've tried three cameras and it always photographs slightly blue, it in fact a stunning emerald green in the flesh!  once the base colour had dried I taped off triangles at the base of my nails using some masking tape! I used the second polish  grosvenor gardens  to fill in the triangles, this glitter polish is a beauty! it's a chunky 3D pink and lilac pastel glitter with smaller green flecks throughout to create texture; it has really good coverage and would look lovely over nude or pale nails this summer. I finish...

you know when you buy something new and you wear it to death within a week... yes that's me and my new skirt!  I finally had to part with it to the washing machine... I'm already suffering withdrawals (send help) I've been so busy praying for the sun to arrive I hadn't even considered what to wear when it landed! I love forever 21 for vests and little summer tops, they're so affordable it's easy to justify buying a few items to perk up my wardrobe! luckily I'd picked up this vest last month so when I popped out for lunch I paired it with my new denim number, a truck load of bracelets and one of my favourite vintage bags.  light wash denim skirt:  river island vest:  forever 21 vintage bag:  the little deer eagle necklace: topshop sunglasses: h&m  ring, watch, belt & leather bracelets: urban outfitters leather gladiator sandals:  new look we stopped off for lunch in one of my favourite spots, cheesy pineapple & mushroom goodness ensued....

I've been meaning to make a floral crown for ages (since last summer in fact) I never quite got around to buying the essentials so it was left on my neglected DIY to do list! the combination of sun and an urge to get away from my laptop finally got the better of me this week so here it is! it's so fun to make and not expensive either, mine came in under £10 and took me roughly an hour or so to finish! I'd love to make one out of fresh flowers but for the time being I opted for silk flowers which are easy to get hold of and last a lot longer! the main things you need are an assortment of flowers (available at craft or home stores- mine were from dunelm) garden wire and some fine jewellery wire. A pair of scissors or pliers to cut is also a must! measure and bend the wire to fit your head (make it a little bigger as the more flowers you add the tighter the fit will become) wrap another length of wire around the crown to make it more secure. now comes the fun part! start twist...

drumroll... today I've teamed up with urban outfitters  to bring you my latest outfit post* EXCITING! I'm a happy bunny this week; the summer has finally arrived and top of my agenda was to wear my new summer dress in the hope of catching that elusive tan (yep still living in hope!)   I found it tricky to pick out a dress as there's so many I liked! the cut and details on the back finally swayed me to pick out this little beauty from pins & needles . I though the strap details were a nice nod to the camisole trend and it's just darn cute (it also comes in  pink ) I've always been a massive fan of UO which is why I was so excited about this post, it's full of independent and quirky labels and it's one of my favourite places to shop. if you're a vintage lover their urban renewal section is a dream (I'm still trying to find the perfect vintage levi cut off's so will no doubt be hopping about one legged trying on endless pairs shortly)  pins ...