Sunday #3 on a Tuesday

Wearing 18andEast top and Primark jeans x

A belated Sunday post, I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend! I enjoyed the snippet of sun we got and ate too many carbs but what are bank holidays for?

I have a full working week this week but have some exciting things planned for next week to do and blog about...

1. Milkshakes and burgers? Can only mean Tinseltown! My little sister will be turning 16 and what better way to celebrate than force feed her copious amounts of ice cream and meat.

2. SHOPPING! Not just a trip to Westfield's Stratford which is all I have done since it was built last year, I am venturing to Oxford Street! I am so excited about going to Selfridges and plan on making it a girly day including a tea stop at some point. Which leads me onto...

3. AFTERNOON TEA! I may or may not have mentioned a bargain afternoon tea voucher purchased a while ago for a local hotel in Brentwood. It is booked up for next week Tuesday and I am so excited to put a pretty dress on and nibble on finger sandwiches once again! 

Amongst all this fun I am going to see The Great Gatsby at the cinema, is it wrong to want to see a film purely on the basis you like the costumes? No I didn't think so. I have also ordered some new spectacles to collect on Friday so keep an eye out on Instagram for some shameless selfies. 

Feel free to contact me on curiositea23@gmail.com and follow me on Instagram- CURIOSITEA23 :) 

Rimmel salon pro nail varnish

I heard from a good source that the new Rimmel salon gel finish nail varnishes which claim to stay chip free for 10days actually chip after 2 days.

Naturally I had to see this for myself. On arrival at the Rimmel stand I am spoilt for choice in colours, and bearing in mind I have too many nail varnishes anyway I ended up going for a nude shade. It's sometimes difficult to find a good nude shade to suit your skin tone but I thought I would give it a go.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started applying this shade as it dried down to a dusty pink/nude shade which I find very flattering on my nails.

Rimmel Salon Pro with Lycra- 237 soul session

When you open this nailvarnish first you realise it's got a lovely wide application brush which really does make the application easier as you can coat a nail fully in two strokes. The formula is slightly thicker than a standard polish but I would have expected that as it boasts a gel like finish but it applys smooth and I applied three thin coat without a top coat to test the claims it will last 10days chip free. 

The polish was fully opaque after two coats and the finish is high shine and quite impressive, it dried surprisingly fast aswel! 

So the bottle claims, 'long lasting nail polish, up to 10 days. Gel like finish. Chip resistant and anti-fade colour.' 

I would say these claims aren't too far fetched the nail varnish has a quality professional gel like finish and although the nailvarnish didn't last anywhere near 10days it was anti-fade and the colour and shine was still there after 4/5 days. The polish did start chipping after about 4 days but I think I good topcoat could have sorted that out. Personally I like to change my polish after about 5 days anyway so it wasn't the end of the world.

Free Mac?!

Firstly, apologies for the delay in posting last week I had a full diary but I am back and expect some flu posts over the next week! 

When I heard you can trade in your empty Mac containers for FREE lipstick I had to check with the store and they confirmed if you take in 6 empty Mac products you will get a free lipstick!

Obviously I ran home and raided my make up collection finding I had 5 empties and was considering chopping up a lipstick and putting it in a separate container when I found an empty lipstick tube at the bottom of a bag! The joy!

Arriving back at the store with empties in tow I felt under pressure to choose a colour and there's so much choice and why are Mac stores always so hot?! So in the end I went for the brightest shades could find seen as summers coming apparently.

Mac - I'm Passioned 

I chose 'IM PASSIONED' which is a bright pink/coral shade in Amplified cream formula. I think it's a beautiful blue toned pink which would look great with a tan and the formula is really creamy and luxurious. Did I mention it was FREE? The lipstick lasts a good couple of hours before I feel it needs reapplying but even then the lips have a lovely pink stain left on them so the colour doesn't rub off completely. I love Mac lipsticks and one of the main reasons is the smell, I hate the lipstick smell of cheaper brands.

If you don't have 6 empty Mac containers you can purchase this lipstick at the normal retail price of £14.

Also, I am trying out some drugstore foundations for off duty days as I am very much a slave to Mac at the moment so expect some reviews to come! 

We heart crafts ...

I previously mentioned that I was going to a craft fair with my mum and it was so cute! It was in a little church in Enfield, north London which was the perfect setting for the vintage inspired craft fair. One of the first things I noticed arriving to the the church was a cute chalkboard outside advertising 'cafe choo choo' when I walked inside and realised it was a tiny vintage tea room I almost jumped up and down on the spot!

Cafe Choo Choo 

Cafe choo choo was so adorable multicoloured polka dot tablecloths and mismatching furniture and when I got to the counter realised the cabinets behind were red and white polka dot and had mismatching curtains hung above! All the walls were glass so you could see into the church and what was going on. I also noticed they sold Nutella cupcakes so a return visit is in order!

Clockwise from top left- Rebecca's cakes, candles, mums cards, church cushions, mums scrapbooks, sewing crafts, handmade hairclips

Naturally I migrated straight for the cupcake stall and I was not disappointed, after much deliberation I chose an Oreo cupcake. It was chocolate sponge with buttercream icing with bits of Oreo mixed in and a mini Oreo on the top. It was presented in a little clear box and I must say it was a good cake,and I would know I have eaten a lot. I would recommend checking out Rebecca's cakes if you need cupcakes/cakes in the North London/ Hertfordshire area.

I had a go on the Tom-bola as one should whenever there is an opportunity and I won the most incredible candle! It is a tall plum honeysuckle fragranced handmade candle by a company called the Candle Cellar. The candle is 9inches tall and a good width and at the moment it is still in the wrapped up but the smell is permeating the cellophane and smells amazing, this size candle is being sold for £7 which I think is very reasonable considering what price you might pay for a known brand candle and this is handmade which in my opinion is even better!

I picked up a few other bits on my way around including a handmade pomegranate lip balm which smells divine and the texture and consistency is lovely too. A father and daughter were selling these and they also had handmade soaps for sale. Check out their website here.

My mums stall did well too she sold some of her cards and did some networking. If you are interested in handmade cards she has an Etsy shop which you can view here;and she can be contacted there if you want something made to order.

Have you found any great homemade products recently?
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Xx

Outfit Of The Day - Bank Holiday Monday

As its a bank holiday today and the sun was out obviously I had to go to sit in a garden with a cold drink and eat barbecued meat.

Warehouse dress £55 (last summers stock) Accsessorize bag £35, Primark sandals £4, New look sunglasses £3.99

I opened my wardrobe this morning and this dress stood out with its fun tropical print, perfect for a sunny day! I love everything about this dress and it shows as I brought it last year and I still want to wear it this year! It comes with a belt made of the same fabric of the dress which I sometimes change a put my own belt on instead. I chose to pull up the top fabric over the belt to make it baggy on the top and shorter at the bottom so it comes up to ankle length. The fabric is really cool and thin which is perfect for a humid day. The only problem I have with this dress is that it creases so badly as you can see from the pictures.

As the dress is so bright I kept everything else simple with some nude coloured sandals, cream satchel and aviator sunglasses.

How did you spend your bank holiday Monday?

Sunday #2

I have had a lovely Sunday this weekend and because it is bank holiday weekend it will feel as if we get a bonus Sunday tomorrow :)

I was hoping to go to a local tea room this weekend but unfortunately I was unable to do so, but instead I spent a lovely morning making cards with my Mum.

My mum is brilliant at crafts and sells lots of handmade cards and scrapbooks and as I mentioned before she has a craft fair coming up soon. So today she was working on some cards and I thought I would give it a go myself. It was nice to relax for a couple of hours and it was very calming and therapeutic. Obviously my cards aren't professional but I am pleased with the results and might do some more in the future to give to friends and family. What do you think of them?



After my peaceful morning of crafting I had an equally chilled out afternoon. I went to a friends house in Ongar,Essex and had a lovely BBQ which between four girls we managed to work it out! To round it all off we snuggled on the sofa and watched Dirty Dancing. Bliss!

I hope you are all enjoying the May bank holiday :D

18th Birthday Card, Congratulations card 

Blue Moon

L-R :  Barry M- 54 Clear, 317 Blue Moon, 354 Amethyst Glitter

I don't usually like any type of blue nail varnish on my own nails but surprisingly I really liked this sky blue colour by Barry M.

Historically I don't get on with Barry M nail varnishes as I find its a bit too thick and it don't seem to last too long before chipping but 3 days in and going strong so far so I may have been converted!

I found this glittery polish in my collection also by Barry M, it's got lots of multicoloured hexagon shaped glitter pieces and small flecks of colourful glitter too in a clear polish. I painted two coats of the glitter on each of my ring fingers as a feature nail. I love glitter polishes but they can be a bit overpowering if on every nail, not to mention a nightmare to take off!

Do you have any tips on removing glitter polish?

I'm no teenage icon...

As I mentioned in my Sunday post I went to a gig at the 02 last night. I went to see the vaccines with two friends and we had a great time and avoided getting anything nasty in our hair.

T-shirt- Very £17, Jeggings- Vera Moda £30, Boots- New Look £27.99, Necklace- Primark £4 

I chose to wear black jeggings for comfort with this motif t-shirt with a mandatory statement necklace which I think was a good mixture of casual and dressy. I also wore my New Look boots which haven't left my feet since I brought them; they are a great height for day or night. On the way out the door I realised by the time I was heading home it may be chilly so I threw on a tasseled jacket over the top.

Excuses for the short post today will make up for it in posts to come!

Bank holiday weekend! Are you doing anything nice?