Tasty Treats From Ikea

It totally sucks that Stoke on Trent doesn't have an Ikea. Our closest one is in Wednesbury which takes a good 50 minutes at least to get to! The other day when I picked up those  Vivienne Westwood Sunglasses from the TK Maxx there, I also popped across to the Ikea. I bought a few housey bits that I will include in a home tour blog post at some point in my life, but for now I will show you the food items I bagged when I was there. I LOVE all kinds of food and live by the motto 'you've got to try everything twice' because you can never tell if you REALLY like something on the first try, so the second try is just to make sure. When it comes to Ikea there are several things I adore: Meatballs at the start, perusing the children's section for little toys for kitty, having a hot dog and a coffee on the way out and visiting the Swedish Food section too - which now has a pick n' mix bit! (which I unfortunately didn't get any of). Anywho, this what I got this time round:

Ikea Swedish Supermarket Food.

Two Tickets For The Colour Show

I don't usually bother writing nail varnish reviews, I find they're a bit 'meh' and sometimes boarder on pointless at times, but I thought I'd make an exception to the rule with these Maybelline Colour show Nail Polishes. I'd seen them around blogs when they were released a few weeks ago and didn't really take an interest, but when I went in to Boots and discovered they were 'Buy One Get One Half Price' and only retailed at £2.99 I thought it was a bargain not to miss. I picked up 4 colours altogether as I simply could not decide which ones to get. The colour range was quite good, including some shades which were more affordable 'dupes' for higher end brands (I'm talking about the L'Oreal Confetti Top Coat and Illamasqua Speckled Polishes here) and also some lovely shades and sparkles I'd not noticed on the shelves before. The bottle and design does boast that of a more expensive polish too, and I think I'm what you would call 'impressed' with the Maybelline Colour Show range as a whole.

Maybelline Colour Show Nail Varnishes

Now don't get me wrong, the Maybelline Colour Show Nail Varnishes aren't the best nail varnishes on the high street, but they are by no means the worst. The quality does reflect in the price somewhat as the colours do apply fairly sheer. Just achieve an opaque effect with the Polka Dots ones you're looking at at least 3 coats - but I guess this is understandable s if they were too thick you wouldn't see the effect! But one I was hoping for a deeper colour and finish too was the 'Wine Shimmer'. Wine Shimmer has a lovely mutlicoloured sparkle running through it in a deep pink shade polish, but it took 4 coats to get it to a nice level of colour, but once that is achieved I really do like it. Sugar Crystals is very similar, but I did buy this to use as a top coat and for that it does work very well.

I have had a little play around with all the shades and as you might know I love to pick nail varnish off, I rarely wear it for more than 2 days before I peel it away. Due to the amount of coats needed on these it does prove really easy to peal off! But I also tried with 2 coats and it's a little harder. Within the two days of wear I probably had each on for they didn't chip, but beyond that I can't really comment. They didn't have that 'hard' finish which tends to chip though if that's any use? I really like the effect of making an ombre finish by using Sugar Crystals and Wine Shimmer together and it was really easy to blend them by just using the nail varnish brushes alone. It's hard to capture the iridescent finish of these two, but believe me, it's lovely.

Anyway, I can't really harp on about nail varnish for too much longer than that. To conclude - very nice colours, very nice price, very good range of colours and an OK to good quality!

Bargain Hunt: Vivienne Westwood Sunglasses

Oh TK Maxx, if I could count the ways I love thee... We would be here all day. TK Maxx has gotta be my favourite shop of all time I reckon. It's the bargain hunter in me that just LOVES rummaging through the piles of crap to find that hidden treasure, and today, well I got myself some GOLD. It was on my way out that I spotted a stand with about 10 pairs of these Vivienne Westwood Sunglasses on, I love a bit of Viv as it channels my inner punk in a non direct punkish way, and I totally love the signature Orb logo design. I immediately assumed these would be too expensive for me to treat myself too... But wait till you hear how much they were....

Vivienne Westwood Sunglasses from TK Maxx

Korean Splurge

When  you're on a tight budget yet want to treat yourself it can be hard to know where to look. The Poundshop and TK Maxx can be good for bagging bargains, but sometimes it's nice to try something completely different, and when you're lacking inspiration there is always that purse friendly option of... EBAY. I say purse friendly, but sometimes you get stuck in this vortex of adding more and more things to your watch list and then thinking 'SCREW IT I'M HAVING IT ALL' at particularly dull lunch times at work. That's what happens to me anyway. When times are hard and money is tight, I know I can always turn to eBay to ease my woes. I only got these things through the post yesterday but was just so excited to share to them I just felt the need to pop them up on the blog straight away.... (Am I really at that point in my life where 'excited' is a way to describe my emotions regarding this? Yes.)

Buying Korean cosmetics off eBay

Meow Mix

As Gok Wan would say 'Crop tops are bang on trend this season' and I for one, am not a massive fan of getting my mid regions out. I don't like having a breeze coming in up through my garments, getting all up in my grill, so up until now have avoided them like the plague. But I spotted this cut out shoulder cat face crop in Republic and even though it wasn't on the sale rail I just had to have it. I do generally think Republic is a bit shit, it's pretty pricey and the other two garments I bought both got holes in without me even wearing them!! But I'm a complete sucker for cut out shoulder detail, whatever the garment is, as soon as I spot them I buy them. I think cut out shoulders are perfect for anyone who is a bit conscious about their arms (which I am a bit) and they make them appear a lot slimmer, covering them up a bit but also still looking summery and warm!