Pixie life: £10 beauty challenge

I'm taking part in Never Too Broke For Beauty's challenge of only spending £10 a month on beauty products.

To see her post, click here.

I'm going to withdraw a crisp £10 note from the bank tomorrow, and with that buy all my beauty purchases during October.

I'll update my progress regularly on Twitter and write an update post at the end of the month to see how well (or badly) I did!

Is anyone else out there brave enough to join us?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie life: mini haul and household chores

After moping around yesterday blowing my nose a lot (as an aside, Kleenex balsam tissues....godsend!), I brushed myself off and got on today.

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Pixie to do list: October

1. Have lots of family time, especially with all the birthdays coming up, including mine. Yippeeee!


2. Find a rose gold nail varnish.


3. Work on some new Slimming World recipes.


4. Get into a gym routine.


5. Lose half a stone (see above two!)

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You know you're grown up when ...

You have to feed yourself cough medicine.


And set up your own sofa of illness complete with poorly blanket and soft tissues.






Colds suck.

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie life: Wishlist

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320"] LOVE LOVE LOVE[/caption]

I currently spend WAY too much time on the Cambridge Satchel Company website - I think these bags are gorgeous. Can't decide whether to go for classic black or tan, or be wild and go for a bright colour!!!

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Pixie nails: Rimmel Purple Rain

Got this from Pound World so I'm not too sure how young/old it is. However, inside, the polish applies well and doesn't seem to be affected by age. I can't find this exact shade in Rimmel's current collection, but it reminds me somewhat of Black Cherries which is a Uk Lasting Finish polish.



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Pixie life: busy busy busy

Bit of a catch up post here, work, life, products I'm trying out and any other random bits and bobs that spring to mind!

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Pixie looks: Barry M lipstick - Peachy Pink (147)

I've gathered such a lipstick collection recently, and I seem to always reach for the same ones. So I've decided that every month, I'm going to choose a lipstick from the stash and try to create some looks to wear with it. Make sure that I use a wider variety and maybe find some new favourites!

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Pixie awards: Blog on Fire

I've been nominated for another award - the Blog on Fire award from Peri's Spice Ladle. Her blog is full of delicious looking Indian recipes with gorgeous photos. Go check her out!!



The Rules:

• List 8 random things about yourself


• Nominate 8 of your favorite blogs and let them know.

Random Things

1. I'm terrified of goldfish. I'm not the biggest fan of fish in general, but absolutely terrified of goldfish. It all stems to a nasty accident with a death defying, leaping goldfish and my foot...followed by recurring nightmares about baths that filled with goldfish and not taps. Even the thought sends a shudder down my spine. It's gone so far, that I'm even scared of tinned peaches because they look like goldfish! Eeeeeeeeeeeek :-(


2. I believe that I am following a career that I truly love. The one that was meant for me. My vocation.


3. I've joined and left four gyms in the past four years.


4. I'm a history geek...I adore learning about life in the past and the struggles and triumphs of everyday people. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era...!


5. Despite my favourite colour being pink, it doesn't feature in my house at all.


6. I take many of the photos for my blog using my iPhone and most times prefer the photos I get with it.


7. I'm still a big kid at heart, even though its a LONG time since I was a child, and I count the number of sleeps to my birthday and Christmas!


8. I think Bradley Wiggins is the double of my boyfriend!

Blogs I nominate

1.  Beauty Thrill

Hope you enjoy reading new blogs from this list...or receiving the award!!

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie hauls: Technic Nail Polish

What would I do without Body Care! Often you can pick up some sneaky gems in there! And I managed to this week - three Technic nail polishes.



I think I've got a problem with glitter nail varnish at the moment! I used to love it, but only at Christmas - not it's an all year round kinda thing! Now, I can't get enough of it!

Anyway, as you can probably see, I managed to find the Technic polish in Carnival which I moaned about being out of stock in this blog post. I went into my local Body Care and there it was!! Sitting on the shelf for 99p! Along side it, was the other two polishes. The black has a subtle silver shimmer running through it. The turquoise polish is in a very sheer black base and was quite difficult to work with. Eventually, I tried it over a black varnish and it looked lovely!





I didn't swatch the Carnival because I didn't want to open it - it's so similar to the W7 glitter I bought a couple of weeks ago that I decided to keep it for a gift :-)

Do you like glitter polishes? Have you got any recommendations for budget nail polish brands?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie hauls: PoundWorld bargains

 

Popped into my local Pound World world today and spotted quite a selection of products.

Realised after I'd bought the nail varnishes (Maybelline and Rimmel) that they were actually IDENTICAL colours. Therefore, I'll keep hold of the Maybelline one for a giveaway when I reach 100 followers. That may be a while yet...but putting more effort into my blog may speed that up :)

Ended up buying:

1. Esprit Quad of brown eyeshadows


2. Rimmel nail varnish


3. Maybelline nail varnish


4. 3 Miss Sporty products - lip liner, lipstick and lipgloss (YES! 3 for £1)


5. Pantene serum

All for the grand price of a fiver!

Bargain.......

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie looks: Eye of the day MAC and Sleek

I attended a christening recently, and wanted a reasonably smokey eye but without *too* much drama. Now, my normal smokey eye is fairly dramatic so a not so dramatic one for me might be really dramatic for others.





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Pixie nails: crackle French manicure

The easiest nail art look I've done.

Barry M crackle polish in white as a French manicure.

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie competes: Passion for fashion

MoneySupermarket are running a competition to create five different outfits from your favourite online fashion retailers. There are five categories - arty, casual, outdoor, first date and office wear. Each outfit must cost no more that £200 and include everything to do with an outfit including shoes and accessories.

Here goes....

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Pixie nails: Love nails design

I bought a new white nail varnish - so decided on a design with a white base :)

The black was from Laval and the pink was from H&M.





This is after a day's wear and you can see some signs of wear at the tips, although a couple of days later, it hadn't got any worse.

I did realise after I'd done them, that although they were the right way round to me, to the rest of the world they were upside down. I just rotated the pictures ;-)

The hearts have been done with a dotting tool. I tried to make a little guide on how to do it, but I'm not overly computer literate. It's basically three dots, then you fill in the gaps with the dotting tool.



It's a lot easier on a nail than a computer!

The rest of the design was done with a teeny tiny brush, freehand :-)

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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London through a lens: Imperial War Museum

[gallery]

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie Loves: @BarryMCosmetics Lipstick Shocking Pink

Who would know that inside such a tiny little tube lurks such joy...



It's SO pink! I love it!



And one coat on the lips later...



Creamy, colourful and a confident colour.

An alliterative delight!

I love this lipstick...

£2.99 from Barry M

Now to pluck up the courage to wear it outside...

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie hauls: @W7Makeup glitter nail varnishes

From left to right: Cosmic Mauve, Gold Dazzle and Glitter Dazzle ( I think)

I've already purchased Cosmic Green and LOVE it. So when I saw that these were on offer as 3 for £5 in a local cosmetics shop, I couldn't resist!



I think these close up shots of the polishes show just how much glitter is packed into them! I love them! I always apply a co-ordinating base colour underneath e.g a lilac polish underneath the purple glitter, then three thin coats of this polish and glitter away!!

The multi coloured glitter has less glitter in it, but looks amazing over white or black base colours! I think it's pretty similar to Technic's Carnival polish which is a dupe for OPI Rainbow Connection. Although the Technic polish is cheaper...it is sold out EVERYWHERE! I haven't found it yet.

Here's the polishes on the nail:

[caption id="attachment_579" align="aligncenter" width="440"] Cosmic Mauve over a lilac base[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_580" align="aligncenter" width="440"] Glitter Dazzle over black polish[/caption]

Gold Dazzle over a lemon polish

I can't wait to use these in some nail art looks! I love glitter and these are so lovely to work with.

I'm considering going back to the shop and getting some more W7 polishes that aren't glitter polishes.

Have you got any W7 polishes? What is your favourite shade?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Llandudno through a lens

[gallery]

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie loves: Banksy

I love Banksy's work. Went exploring in London to try and find some of his work, but managed to only find one. Time was not my friend.

Anyway, this is the one I found...



I took it at dusk and had to fiddle around with settings on my camera, resting it on The Boy's shoulder, but all in all, not a bad shot I think!!

These are from Banksy's website... http://www.banksy.co.uk



I love the girl with the balloon and the maid lifting up the 'wall' particularly!

Who's your favourite artist?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie looks: 5 ways, 1 lipstick

[caption id="attachment_542" align="aligncenter" width="440"] MUA lipstick Shade 3[/caption]



I fell in love with this lipstick as soon as I saw it, look at that pink! I have a weakness for all things of a pink nature. As in ALL things pink. It's a problem...for some, not for me!

My only thing is, I'm stuck in a make up rut. My evening, dramatic make up in invariably very smoky eye and a nude lip. My daytime look is very neutral with Vaseline. So how will I fit this in?

One lipstick, a week's worth of looks?

A challenge if ever there was one!

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Pixie loves: Vice Versas

Ahhhhh! I loved these as a kid! My favourite are the brown shell/white chocolate! Yum yum yum.

Diet? What diet!!!

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie looks: @MUAcosmetics Undressed vs. Urban Decay Naked palette

I bought the MUA Undressed palette this week for £4 and already had the Naked palette from Urban Decay as a Christmas gift 2011.

I ADORE my Naked palette and use it most days. The pigmentation of the shadows are great and they have a lovely soft texture. This does sometimes lead to fall out underneath the eye but I can live with that!

The MUA palette has almost the exact same shades as Naked...as in identical.



 

The pigmentation in the MUA palette is SOMETIMES not as great as Urban Decay, notably the Half Baked shade. However, the Virgin and Sin dupes seem more pigmented to me in MUA.

Price wise, there isn't really a comparison. You get more actual shadow in the Naked palette. However, MUA works out at 42p per gram, whereas UD works out at £2.24 a gram, which is five times the price.

Overall, I wouldn't give up my Naked palette, for the consistent pigmentation, but for £4...the MUA palette is undeniably the better value palette. I'm going to use this one for the make up bag in my handbag...and that way, if it gets smashed, I won't be heartbroken over the cost of replacing it!!

Do you have any high end dupe recommendations?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie Looks: Purple eye makeup using a random palette.

Having blogged about my Urban Decay palette here and my Sleek Storm palette here, both palettes I love and adore, I thought it might be time to put some colour into my life.

Having always heard that purple is a good colour for brown eyes, and mine are pretty brown ;-), I decided to give it a go.

Not being a brave person, it still has some shades of grey...just like the infamous (or should that be notorious) book!

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Pixie awards: Liebster Award

photo credit: kevin dooley via photo pin cc

Luchessa over at http://luchessa.wordpress.com/ nominated me for this award.

This is what she says about it:

What is that award about, you will ask? Well, “Liebster” is a german word meaning “most favorite” or ”dearest”, which is usually given to new bloggers with less than 200 followers, who deserve support from the community.

The rules are:

1) Post eleven facts about yourself

2) Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated

3) Choose eleven people to give this award to (with fewer than 200 followers) and link them in your post

4) Go to their page and tell them

5) Remember, no tag backs

My eleven facts

1. My favourite flowers are peonies.


2. I adore candles - creamy scents.


3. My comfort food is strawberry jam and lancashire cheese sandwiches. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!


4. I adore owls. And once thought I was stroking a stuffed owl, when it turned its head and looked at me!


5. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era...


6. I got great exam results all through school...but haven't known the most basic of things e.g. where potatoes grow...?!


7. I have a reputation as a bit of a tough cookie...but actually cry at almost anything (EVERY medallist at the Olympics?!)


8. I once made a soup that bubbled. When it was cold. I made another the same week that set solid.


9. I have a beauty spot on my upper lip which makes me feel unique!


10. I've only been blogging for 3 weeks, hence the lack of linked blogs below :-S


11. I REALLY struggled to think of 11 facts about myself...!

Eleven questions from http://luchessa.wordpress.com

1. What inspired you to choose the name for your blog?I like the idea of pixies, fairies, the borrowers etc existing. I love fairytales!


2. Why did you start blogging?I'm a teacher, and the six week holiday could be very long. I have lots of interests, and wanted to document them all too!


3. Where do you get your motivation to write a new blog post? What inspires you?I started off with a general, anything goes blog, but it edges more on the side of beauty related at the moment. I just love to blog about what I'm up to and interested in at the moment.


4. Do you have any role model in the beauty/fashion industry (models, designers, makeup brands)? Who and why?Hmmmm...I'm not sure about this one really. My role models are more people I actually know. I clearly remember sitting and watching my mum putting her make up on. Blending in her foundation, lining her eyes and telling me how lucky I was to have black eyelashes. It all looked so glamorous and I think was probably my grounding in make up.


5. Do you remember what the first makeup item was that you ever used?Clear mascara...did someone just call me adventurous?! ;-)


6. If you hear or read about an interesting beauty product that’s not available in your country, would you still go and get it online?I generally prefer to at least have seen a product before I buy it. Good excuse for a holiday I say!!


7. High end cosmetics vs. drugstore cosmetics? Whats your choice most of the time?Ooooh...I'd love to buy more high end cosmetics just because there are some BEAUTIFUL things out there. However, finances dictate that I'm a drugstore girl.


8. If you could travel to any interesting place in the world, where would it be and why?My ONE travel wish is to go and see the Northern Lights. I think it's the fact that there's no guarantee of seeing them and photographs I've seen look magical.


9. What’s your secret remedy when you are stressed out?I don't think it's a secret...a huge glass of wine!


10. What’s your autumn/winter must haves (food, cosmetics, book, clothing ect.)?Ugg boots, a heavier foundation, stews, homemade soups and scarves!


11. What is your other passion besides fashion & makeup?Teaching.

Eleven questions for the bloggers:

1. How long have you been blogging? And what made you start?


2. What is the main focus of your blog? (e.g. nails, make up, reviews?)


3. How often, on average, do you think "Hmmm...I could blog that!"?


4. Have you mentioned your blogging to friends and family or do you prefer to keep it private?


5. What do you look for when reading a new blog? Numbers of followers? Quality of photos?


6. How do you take the best photos for your blog?


7. What's your best beauty bargain?


8. What are some of your holy grail products?


9. How long does it take you to get ready for an average day?


10. Do you tone down your make-up look for work?


11. If you could only wear one nail varnish for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Blogger I’m nominating: (some of you might have more than 200 followers, but i really would like to nominate YOU!)

http://bitsandbobsbeauty.wordpress.com

http://cupcakesakura.wordpress.com/

Adding http://poundlandprincess.wordpress.com/!

I'm sorry that there aren't 11 blogs here, most of the blogs I read so far are very established...but I'm always on the look out for new blogs if anyone can recommend any!

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie nails: Peach ombre nails

Take three of my favourite budget brands of nail polish:

[caption id="attachment_521" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Rimmel London Clouds, Barry M Peach Melba, Collection Fruit Salad[/caption]

One make up sponge

And a bit of patience!

Paint a thin stripe of each colour on the make up sponge, dab it over the nail (prepainted in white) and keep sponging until the colours are blended.



Hint: Put topcoat on relatively quickly compared to other nail art designs, it helps to blend all the colours together.

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie hauls: MUA

The Boy dragged me suit shopping to check what suited him (see what I did there?!?) I love shopping as much as the next shopaholic but I'm a lone ranger. I hate shopping with other people. For me, shopping is not a social event!

Anyway, thanks to Next, we were done in super speed time so there was plenty of time for me to wander into the local Superdrug and hunt out some MUA goodies.

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London through a lens: Covent Garden

[gallery]

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie Looks: Daytime look with Urban Decay Naked Palette

I was quite a bit behind the Naked Revolution, only getting my palette in December. However, I've used it practically everyday since! Between this and the Sleek Storm palette, my other eyeshadows are feeling a little abandoned, haha!!

You can hardly tell that I've used this palette, despite almost daily use. The shadows are so creamy! It really has convinced me to try out their new Smoked palette soon!





I used Virgin and Sin to create a really wearable daytime look.

Other products used:

Rimmel Glameyes Liquid Liner in brown
Miss Sporty Studio Volume mascara in black
Vivo eyebrow palette - the darkest shade

Has anyone reading got the Smoked palette? Is it worth purchasing?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie dresses: £50 Boohoo challenge

I followed a tweet (I'm sorry, I can't remember where from) to www.fashionvouchers.com where they are running a competition to win a £50 Boohoo voucher.

You have to create an outfit from Boohoo up to the value of £50. They will choose the best four outfits, who will each receive a £50 Boohoo voucher.

Full rules can be found here.

I've shopped from Boohoo a couple of times and always found their photos to show the clothes well, as in, what you see is what you get. Often not the case with other website...naming no names ;-)

So...onto my virtual shop. I bet if I tried REALLY hard, this could replace an ACTUAL shop, and save me some £££!

Clicking the pictures should take you through to the relevant page on Boohoo.

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Pixie nails: Too-whit-too-wooo. Owl nails.

I saw this post a while ago and knew that one day I'd have to give it a go.

However, I was far too keen when applying and didn't wait for my owlies to dry. And they're smudged :(

Here is the finished product, and I will be having another go soon. Photos of non smudgey owls to follow!

I used a OLD OLD george nail polish as the background, I think I may need a replacement sky colour though as this was very difficult to work with.



 

I then used an ELF nail varnish (chocolate) which was a delight. I ordered this colour a while ago, and could never decide what I might want to use it for. Now I've discovered that one of its uses is total perfection for trees and owl nail art! The colour really is as named...chocolatey!

It's a really strong colour, perfect for using with a dotting tool. It was touch dry quickly with a glossy finish. It's the only ELF nail polish I own, but considering how cheap they are, I think I'll be purchasing a few more!!





 

Any recommendations for a sky coloured nail polish?

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie loves: Wartime Farm

Favourite moments:

The iron plugging into the light fitting
Ruth cranking up the tractor...
...then stalling it.
Picking rosehips...tuppence a pound!
The secret radio in the potting shed - had NO clue that was going on during war!
Night ploughing - that silhouetted landscape, wow!
Fried bacon and bananas?!?!!
The preview of next weeks...I can't wait!!

I'm sure I was born in the wrong era...!

***Love and Pixie dust*** Pin It

Pixie nails: glitter tipped indigo

Wooo...the weekend is here and I finally have time to do my nails!





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Pixie cooks: Bruschetta Sandwich

So my Italian feast (blogged here) included bruschetta and I had loads of the topping left over!

The topping was yum - chopped, de-seeded tomatoes (6 medium), two small onions chopped finely, 2 garlic cloves crushed, a handful of basil leaves finely chopped, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

But tons left over! haha!

So the next day, I made this...

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Pixie cooks: Jazzing up a jar of Dolmio

It was my parent's 34th wedding anniversary recently and I decided, rather last minute, to cook a Italian meal for them

I started with a selection of antipasto and bruschetta. (For bruschetta recipe see this post)

I decided lasagne was going to be a winner for the main course, mainly because time was an issue and I could shove a lasagne in the oven and forget about it. I know it's easy to make my own tomato sauce from scratch, and that's what I normally do for spaghetti bolognese but I had a jar of Dolmio sitting in the cupboard. Here's how I jazzed it up...

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London through a lens: Buckingham Palace

[gallery]

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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Pixie looks/Pixie tags: How much is your face worth?

I saw this post on the WONDERFUL Sprinkle of Glitter's blog and thought it would be pretty interesting to do...or scary, haha!

Basically, you total up all the products you have on your face. You count the cost of the full product.

This is the eye from this look - not brave enough to post a full face on here yet (got to tell my friends about the blog first!)



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Pixie Looks: Smoky eye with Sleek Storm Palette and Ardell demi wispies.

Wow. I ADORE this palette. The colours are just my cup of tea and the black matte eyeshadow is the most pigmented one I've used. This is my "go to" palette for a smoky eye look. It comes everywhere with me...I literally cannot describe how much I love it.



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Pixie life: Buffet-quette

Buffet-quette noun

1. The art of travelling around a food laden table in one direction and juggling a plate, napkin and cutlery.

2. Ensuring you select enough food to satisfy hunger but do not take the last of any one thing.

***Love and Pixie Dust***

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