Last Minute Halloween Nails!

Here are some of my simple, easy and quick nail ideas for halloween! They are so simple, anyone can do them - I was inspired some the amazing nail art for halloween on Pinterest so if you want some more ideas or more advanced designs head over there (then you will probably become addicted to Pinterest, you're welcome). 

1. Frankenstein: I saw this design on Miss Budget Beauty's youtube channel and she used other polishes and products but I used Stiletto by Ciate and a black marker to draw on hair, eyes, a mono brow (sexy) and a mouth. Using a marker or nail art pen just makes everything so much easier!

2. Black & White Designs: Here is a few designs that can be done with a white/cream polish and a black marker or a black nail polish and cocktail stick. I used the Color Club polish in the shade Mod in Manhattan. I used one thick coat of this polish and while it is a great shade, I am not that keen on the formula. Here I drew a ghost (but it looks more like a face with a beard!), stitches, jack skeleton from the Nightmare Before Christmas and a bat in the night - yes it is a bit of an...unusual bat shape!

3. Eyes in the night: I love this one, it is probably my favourite and it is so simple. I use a black polish - Rimmel Black Cab and a white polish from a Revlon nail polish duo (miss perfect shade duo) to create little eyes. So simple and so cute in a halloweenish way. I added a matte topcoat at the end, love matte nails recently. I used the Asda George matte topcoat which is super cheap and it is good, although not very long lasting. 

4. Blood dripping: Another simple design, blood dripping down from the tips of the nails. I use a natural base colour - beige distinction from Bourjois and Red Hot Chili from Ciate and I just drew blood drips onto the nail. I think this design would be great for a vampire costume. 

5. Aztec Jack O Lantern: This is actually one of my designs for the Bourjois Facebook Nail Battle competition. It is a halloween/fall aztec nail design with Revlons Fall Mood as the base (love this shade) and again a black marker - I used a CD marker for these designs. 

6. Snow Queen: Great for a snow/ice queen costume. I love the contrast with the white polish and gold glitter, so cute and girly. The white polish is Mod in Manhattan from Color Club and the glitter gold polish/topcoat is from Topshop - I think it is called stardust. 

7. Little Monsters: This is one of my first designs, I think they are cute and really simple. I used the same green Ciate shade I mentioned before for the face/body and the red shade again by Ciate that I mentioned before for the mouth. Then I used a deep purple colour from Jessica for the hair. And Mod in Manhattan for the eyes. 

8. Toxic Spill: I took the same design I used for the blood/vampire nail and I just used the green Ciate polish to make a kind of zombie/toxic spill design. I love this design, it would be great for a zombie costume or a witch costume! 

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My Summer Basics

Here are some of my summer basics picks, obviously there are a lot of products I have missed out like SPF (I didn't include SPF because I can react to spf and it can irritate my eczema sometimes). Also I missed out my beloved Caudalie Beauty Elixir and foundation but these are just basics that I use on a daily basis during the summer in England. I might make a holiday/travel basics as I am going away from the beginning of August to the end of August. 

1. Simple Rich Moisturiser: this product is just a staple from me at all times of the year, I don't know what I would do without it! I have been using this facial moisturiser for about three years now and I love it, even during the summer because your skin always needs a moisturiser after cleansing.

2. Revlon Nearly Naked Pressed Powder: I have the shade '01 fair' which is the lightest shade unfortunately because it is still a little bit too dark for me but during the summer when my skin isn't as ghostly pale as it is during the colder months then I can use it. The powder is almost invisible on the skin, it leave the skin matte but not really flat and it doesn't look caky, powdery or heavy at all!

3. Bioderma Sebium Micellaire Solution: I bought two bottles of this (2 X 500ml for €15) in Corsica and I love this stuff! It is the one of normal/combination skin and I have dry skin but it was the only bioderma micellaire water in the Corsican pharmacy I went to and I had been searching around Italy and Corsica for Bioderma! Anyway even through it is for normal/combination skin is works fine for my dry skin, it doesn't strip my skin and it removes makeup like nothing else!

4. Bliss Blood Orange and White Pepper Body Butter: I know that during the summer you don't want to use a thick body butter but this one smells divine, I love it! This body butter is quite light and it doesn't feel heavy and it absorbs quickly too.

5. Free People Mr. Cleaver Sunglasses: I bought these sunglasses about a week ago and I love them. I have fairly sensitive eyes and I wear contacts so sunglasses are a must and these look great! They fit really well, they don't look really big and they are comfortable. They are also in the sale for less than £7!

6. Ciate 'Red Hot Chili' Nail Polish: I bought this polish at the end of last month when it was on sale for £4.50. The shade is just gorgeous, it is a bright chili red which is perfect for summer. It applies like a dream and I can get away with one coat.

7. Twistbands: I love Twistbands, I received mine in a beauty box a while ago (I think it was Jolie Box) and I have been using the since. They don't pull on my hair, they don't give me a headache and they are great for just keep my hair away from my face while I am out and about in the sun. If you can't find Twistbands then H&M and Dorothy Perkins (and some brands in Boots) are making them now!

8. Korres Tinted Lip Balm, Rose: I love Korres products and this one is no exception. The lip balm is great on its own and the fact that it is tinted is great too because in the summer you don't want lots of makeup on or full on lipstick so a tinted lip balm is a great 2 in1 product for summer!

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June/July Beauty Buys

Here are my beauty buys for the months of June and July from SpaceNK, Primark, Ciate, Asos, Superdrug, Illamasqua, Topshop and Love-Makeup...phew! Some are sale buys because there are some amazing sales at the moment online and instore. The sales on Spacenk and Love-Makeup have been fantastic!

Primark: From Primark I bought two of the new Lip Smackers lip balms. I used to buy lip smackers balms from Claires accessories as a child and I loved them. The new ones have the old fashioned 90's Walls ice cream/ice lolly flavours that I loved growing up. I bought the Feast and Twister flavours and I love the packaging and the Feast flavour is just gorgeous - to smell, not to eat! They were £1.50 each which is a bargain as they are £3 in Topshop! 

SpaceNK: SpaceNK always have INCREDIBLE sales, I always buy a few things from their sales. This time round I bought the Diptyque Paira fragrance in the scent 'Vetyverio' which is similar to my beloved Prada Infusion D'Iris. This fragrance is 100ml and it was in the sale for...wait for it...£17! A gorgeous 100ml Diptyque fragrance for only £17, I had to get it and I am so glad that I did because it is a lovely fragrance. Full review coming soon.  

Ciate: A good few weeks ago (I ordered on the 30th June), Ciate were selling their polishes online for £4.50 each and I had a 30% off code too - I tweeted about this at the time so if you want to know about sales, offers or codes then you can follow me on Twitter because I usually post codes and sale info on there - twitter user name: ofbeautyand. Anyway, I bought four Ciate polishes and in total I paid just over £12, amazing! I bought Stiletto, Pepperminty, Iced Frappe and Red Hot Chili and I love all of them. Again a review coming asap. 

Love-Makeup: Lovemakeup (a fantastic website) had a sale on and again I tweeted about the sale. I bought the Becca Radiant Skin Satin Foundation in the lightest sale 'Porcelain' for only £9, it should have been around £38 - bargain! I have tried the foundation and a couple of times and I really like it so far. I also bought a Becca nail polish in the shade 'summerdaze' which is a lovely peach shade for £2.50. 

Asos, Superdrug, Illamasqua and Topshop: Finally some other bits and pieces from online shops. I bought a sale Topshop nail polish in the shade 'stardust' which is pretty on its own but it is annoying to remove. I bought one of the Rimmel Kate Moss nail polishes in the shade 'rock n roll' and I have to say I love the formula and brush of these polishes and I may have to get some more of them. From the Illamasqua sale I bought a lip pencil in the shade 'ascend' which is a gorgeous rosy shade that looks natural and pretty on the lips. Finally, I bought a hair dye from Superdrug, the Schwarzkopf Live XXL dye in the shade 'dark chocolate delight' which has to be the messiest hair due I have used. 

There are my beauty buys from the past couple of months, well a couple more have arrived today (oops). I hope you like this post, if you have any questions leave them in the comments below x

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