Friday, 14 August 2009

Expensive vs. cheap nail varnishes

Hiya guys, so this post is my review on whether their really is a difference in quality from the cheap to the expensive nail varnishes. I bought 6 nail varnishs off 'Nails inc' a reputable nail varnish and compared them with Collection 2000 nail and Primark nail varnishes.

Nails inc.
Cost: At 10.50 a bottle these are at the higher price range for nail varnishes.
Bottle: Normal to every other nail varnish I've purchased. They were exact to the cheaper brands such as Collection 2000 in terms of the brush and the bottle.
Colours: Beautiful colours that only need one coat to get a deep intense colour. Really pretty! BUT they chipped really really easily which was a bit frustrating.
Overall rating: 7/10. Really cute colours but overpriced and chipped just as easily as cheaper brands. On the other hand only need one coat - so maybe cost effective in the long run?

Collection 2000
Cost: £1.99 a bottle. Fairly cheap.
Bottle: Opened up easily and brush was perfect.
Colours: Cute colours, needed a few coats to get a nice finish. The colours are not as beautifully finished as Nails inc. but you could probably find something very similar.
Overall rating: 6/10. As long as you find a colour you like, you wont be disappointed. There is so many to choose from you're bound to find the 'in' autumn colours in the right shade for you.

Primark
Cost: 6 for £3 in a set. Great value!
Bottle: The brush wasn't the same length all the way through so it had to be cut before I used it. Not the best quality.
Colours: The colours were probably the most sustainable to chipping but as with the Collection 2000's needed more than one coat. Really limited in colour choices.
Overall rating: 5/10. Colours were quite limited, and it was annoying to have to trim them all before I could even use them. Despite this, they lasted a long time once they were on.

Generally, I believe it doesn't really make a difference what brand you go for. Nails inc. are beautiful colours but you can get really nice colours anyway for a 1/5 of the price. Also they might only take one coat, but they chip over everything! So really I'd say they were as sustainable as the cheaper brands.

What are your opinions?
<3

Saturday, 8 August 2009

Spoil Sports


It was my friend Jo's birthday on the 6th - so I got all revved up to go and help her make a night of it. Amongst the girlies were yours truly, Jo the birthday girl, Crazy Rebecca B, Hardcore drinker Roz and Whiney-Bex.

I knew we'd go places that I wasn't really into; a pirate bar which had no recognizable cocktails and a rock bar where I was bitten four times were amongst these, but I had a laugh and made sure that everybody was feeling the party vibe. More than anything, I knew Jo had worried about pleasing everyone so I wanted to make sure she was having a good time.

Eventually after a few more bars we decided to go to a club, Liquid. We agreed to pay the £3 entry fee, Roz having to pay in Bex for some unknown reason. The music was pumping, so we headed to the floor. Everyone was getting into the groove.

Other than Bex. She just stood there limp for literally two songs before she went to the toilets. Roz went in after her and told us that Bex 'hated' it, but keeping in mind we had spent two hours in shit holes for Bex I couldn't help but feel annoyed as she'd barely given it six minutes. So Roz feeling guilty and responsible had to leave with Bex to go back to a scummy pub. I made a big effort to make sure Jo was having a good time and we had a right laugh, just the three of us, but I could tell that it was niggling on Jo and she felt a bit shit about it.

We were really enjoying ourselves but at two, an hour and half since we'd been in the club, Bex rang to say they couldn't get back in as it allowing people through the doors at 2am. Bex would have definiately went home ages ago but as Jo was paying for the full taxi I knew she'd stay to the bitter end - and huff about it along the way. So we had to leave which was really annoying as all three of us wanted to stay out, but we couldn't just leave them outside.

Outiside, Jo, Roz and myself decided to end the night with some dirty junk food but Bex complained we wouldn't be able to eat it in the taxi, clearly expecting that since she wanted to get home that everyone else should jump for her. We sat inside, trying to cheer up Bex who you would have thought had just been told a loved one had just died or something.

When we finished she even went in a huff because we explained you couldn't just jump in the taxi line in front of people just because you needed the larger taxis and that you had to wait in the que. Next, keeping in mind Jo was paying for everybodys taxi she asked if it would be ok to drop us off at a place in between all our houses rather than drop us off straight outside our doors. We all agreed - other than Bex of course, as she had to walk for 20 mins (just like Becca and Roz who didn't complain).

I remembered when it was Bex's birthday and she had brought her own car as she wasn't drinking. Jo had lost the people she was supposed to be getting a taxi back with and couldn't afford it on her own, so Jo asked for a lift off Bex (they live about 5 mins away from eachother) and Bex went completely off it. Jo even said she would walk from Bex's but Bex made such a massive issue out of it as if Jo had just asked for her one working kidney or something. Bex is notorious for never giving lifts even when she has the space and it would be at no extra cost as we'd walk from hers so if she's that spiteful more than anything she should expect the same back.

I just couldn't believe the cheek of Bex. Even if it wasn't her scene she could have made the effort to enjoy Liquid and compromise. She could have been less snotty about the taxi or offered to pay the difference considering how harsh she is with her own lifts. Am I being unreasonable? Do you guys think that she was in the right? Let me know :)

Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Shakiras a she wolf?!

Ok I get that Shakira is kind of known for her sexiness, but how over the top is this video?! Maybe it's to distract from the painful wolf noises that occur half way through.......

Boredom Busters

What do you guys do in the holidays to keep yourself busy?

Now that Summer School is out of the way, I just feel like I have literally nothing to occupy myself with. I've seen tons of my friends, and so much of my boyfriend that I'm sure his Dad is wondering whether he should ask for me board. I've been exercising everyday (and as a result now weigh 9st 4.6 instead of 9st 8, yayyy) and even went as far as to do my nails like this:



I was impressed with myself! I tried to take a photo but my camera is being really lame and incapable of picking up the detail :(. I took Molly, my doggy, out for a good 3 hours and took her swimming until the heat became a bit too much for both of us. I talked to all my family, applied for jobs, and then....
And then what? I have no idea what the hell to do with myself after I've done all these things. I don't want to suffocate friends or my boyfriend. I remember a month or so ago I was crumbling under the stress of my massive list of things to do and couldn't wait for a holiday. Now I honestly don't know what to do with myself, especially after I finish my my marathon series 2 of Heroes. Any suggestions?

Monday, 3 August 2009

Sunday, 2 August 2009

Stuck in a rut


Weight is an issue which has been affecting me alot lately. No matter how hard I try I'm failing on a daily basis in my attempt to shed some poundage and it's becoming to annoying. I've managed to keep to the excersise, but as soon as it gets to about 6pm all my "stick to 1200 calories" promises crash and I can't resist temptation. I feel so frustrated and annoyed; it's as simple as just not eating extra but I feel so hungry all the time and have constant cravings.


This might be down to my food choices, I keep thinking "Oh these chips, 144 calories for ten chips that's fine" but of course that wont fill me up and I end up giving up and going for the bulk. I feel totally out of my depth, sickened by my expanding belly and general inability to stay controlled. I feel like throwing up right now I'm getting so fed up, but I know that's a slippy slope to how I was before. I don't want to obsess about my weight like I did, but I'm getting more and more desperate for something that will work for me. I used to run a very successful (and still going strong even though I haven't used it for years) weight loss forum which was aimed at girls like myself who were at a healthy weight, but just wanted to be that little bit skinnier. I know that's just one click away, just to kick myself off again. I also know I'll become obsessive and start taking it to extremes, easily influenced. Argh. I'm swamped by images of girls so thin and seem to be constantly eating out, they make it look so easy.


It doesn't help that everytime I opt for a healthy option I get screamed at by my Mam for costing the household money. For example, I ate my meal downstairs for a change (I usually eat in my room for this very reason) and I had used a handful of brown rice, half a pepper and half a tin of tuna. Keeping in mind, noone in my house likes brown rice and the pepper was ready to throw out as it was nearly rotted through. I was really excited as the whole meal was low in calories and super healthy but my Mam immediately started staring me out. I hate it when people stare when I'm eating and my Mam is fully aware of the problems I have with self image and my unhealthy starving in the past, but she seems to thrive on manipulating it. She especially loves that I've put on so much weight so she can make jibes. Straight off, she started ranting at me about how I eat everything and my Dad had wanted to say something since I kept on eating all the eggs (they're 80 cals so I love them), and how I should contribute and pay for my own food, etc etc, on and on until I just couldn't help but cry and left my food nearly untouched. I stayed in my room all day where my Mam shouted through I was being a total baby and couldn't control myself. I didn't eat for the rest of the day scared Mam would start commenting again. She's been away for the weekend with my Dad so since then in an almost rebellious way I've been eating whatever. Fuck it, she's not here to watch and mock me.


I have such an unsteady relationship with food. When I try to think back, I guess it's a mixture of shyness as a child which turned to criticising myself as I got bullied and then turning this on my eating habits as I started to get criticised for that. My Mam used to make me sit at the table and force me to eat whatever she had made, not letting me leave until I ate it all. If I didn't, I stayed at the table for hours crying until I was eventually allowed to go which was the most often option. I hated the dishes she made, I loathe pasta but her meals were always spag bol or past and mince so I didn't want to force myself to eat something I really didn't like.


"I don't understand why you can't just have a sandwich like everyone else, instead of eating us out of house and home. Your so selfish, we've wanted to say something for weeks. Your so greedy. Why don't you pay for it?" is the general argument spat at me in the most accusing and disgusted voice ever, especially recently. I would love to turn round and punch her straight in her obnoxious face in an imaginary world. Hmmm maybe I don't want to eat a sandwich because we only have white bread, which is unhealthy and that I hate the taste of and 127 calories a slice (!), we only have red meat or cheese which are both high cal and generally sandwiches don't actually fill me. I feel so hurt she uses food against me.


I don't know how to control anything from my relationships with people to food. I'm so annoyed that she's uses my insecurities so grossly and making me totally swing out of control with my weight. I have no idea where to go from here.


Saturday, 1 August 2009

Spice up your life!



Sorry for the Spice Girls lyrics for the title hehe. It's hard to stop myself sometimes ;).

Anyhoo, to spice up my blog I'm starting a new section that you can see on the left hand side of my blog called 'Challenge me'. You can literally ask me anything or challenge me to do anything, and I'll email you back a link to a new blog with the experience. Please drop me by an email - dont be shy! My emails e_burnt.toast@yahoo.com . Even if you just want to leave a comment or a suggestion you can use that email. Basically I just want to hear from you guys! If you give me a rather large challenge I'll add it to my challenge list on this link here:

http://www.my50.com/yourlistro.php?list=3b7a7e29d019f5bd

If you're feeling really brave, let me know if you fancy starting a 'Challenge me' or 'Ask me anything' blogging section.
Love <>