My Manicure Essentials

I love to keep my nails looking as healthy as possible. Especially when I'm working on the checkouts, my hands get super dry, my nails chip and can easily get brittle and break. I thought I'd share with you how I look after my nails and what I use to do so! 

 

Depending on the length and state of my nails I'll choose what shape and style I want to file my nails into. For example, if my nails are long but breaking I tend to trim them down to the best length possible, I try not to go too short because I hate my fingers feeling stumpy. For this I use nail clippers as I find it so much easier than nail scissors to get a desireed shape. I then use my red nail file, this is quite corse and I think it's pretty much made for acrylic nails so that it's easier to file but I find it easier and quicker with a hard file. If my nails are already short or at a medium length, I just file them slightly neater than before.

 

 

Once I've got my desired length and shape, I use my cuticle oil, I apply this around my nail beds, cuticles and to the middle of my nails and let it work for around 30 seconds. This cuticle oil is amazing, I use it every time I do anyone's nails and I've had it for around 2 years so it lasts a lot! And it smells so sweet like marzipan or almonds. After applying the oil I gently use my cuticle stick to push back the dead cuticle skin and dry skin from the mid length of my nails. You soon see the dry skin flake off and feel a huge difference. Depending on the state of my cuticles, (if they're super flakey and over grown) I use my cuticle cutter, to be honest I don't know the real name of these products but I'm talking about the metal pink stick with a pointed end that looks like a snakes tongue. (If you know the names of these products do let me know!) anyway, I gently push the pointy end around my cuticle skin to remove any dry over grown skin, if there's any tough to remove bits I use cuticle scissors. You have to make sure to be extra gently with these products as you can easily cause soreness around your nails and make them bleed if not used properly.

 

 

 

 

To get rid of excess oil and dry skin I buff away at my nails in a side sweep motion to clean and give the nails a shine using my white block buffer. To keep my nails looking healthy I swear by using Essence Anti Split Nail Sealer, this can be used a gelish kind of varnish on it's own or I use it as a protective base coat underneath any polish. I apply a decent amount of this to all my nails, sometimes 2 coats does the trick but the polish is a lot thicker than regular base coat and has a gelish look to it. 

After manicuring my nails it's time to pick a colour. At the moment I'm loving plain neutral colours, especially because it's the only kind of colours we're allowed to wear at work so for a while I've been using the PS Love colours from Primark and found the perfect nude varnish for 80p! (No. 88). The best nude colour I've found up to yet, with its wide brush it paints on so smoothly and only takes one coat to look fabulous. I team this with a basic top coat from Boots to finish off the mani and some Soap and Glory Hand Food to fix my dry skin.

 

 

 

I must also let you goes know about my new favourite nail varnish remover! This is acetone nail varnish remover from Classics, which is so so handy as it comes in this big pots where a push down lid, so that you don't end up wasting too much by spilling it and having the horrible smell get everywhere. I found this is Savers but I'm pretty sure they're available in most nail salon services. (Sally's Salon Services & Rendezvous in Mansfield)

 

 

 

To keep all my favourite essentials in one place I use this cute little handmade bag that originally had old fashioned sweets in it!

 

 

Cuticle Oil - Sally's Salon Services

Cuticle Pusher & Nail File - Sally's Salon Services

Nail Polish Remover Wipes - Sally's Salon Services

Nail Polish Remover - Savers

PS Love Nail Polish in no. 88 - Primark

Essence Anti Split Nail Sealer - Wilko's

Basic Top Coat - Boots

Soap and Glory Hand Food Sugar Crush - Boots

 

I've been trying out some new photo editing styles recently, if you're wondering why my photos are starting to look a bit artsy. Until I've found a style that suits my photos, I'm gonna enjoy playing around. I've been using www.befunky.com if any of you are interested.

 

Thanks for reading my latest post guys!

I've you've enjoyed reading please comment and give me feedback on my social media spots!

 

Instagram - @tatersaurus

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Katie xx

 

 

My Pastel Experience

I've had a big change with my hair! It might not seem like a big thing to some people, but after being a brunette for so long and never bleaching my hair (apart from some highlights here and there) it's always been the same boring hair. But I've taken some inspiration from a few other bloggers (LeanneLimWalker & Inthefrow) and I've taken to the bleach and just gone for it!

 

I originally had the idea of saving up to get it done properly at a salon, but me being me, I can't wait that long and to be honest I can't afford to pay for my quite dark brown hair to be bleached numerous times to then pay for another sitting having it coloured. Whereas these kits are around £3-£6 in drug shops and completely affordable when you'll need to refresh the colour once it fades. So my lovely dearest mum has being the one to help me out and I appreciate every single bit of time and effort my mum has put into helping me achieve my look.

 

If I'm completely honest, the desired look could have been better with different products. I mean, my hair hasn't quite turned out lilac. I keep joking that I'm either a unicorn princess, a mermaid, Easter egg or lavender candy floss.

 

Anyway, seen as my hair was a sort of medium brown colour to begin with I had to buy the 'Bleach It' hair lightener which came with the pastel dyes from Smart Beauty. Neither of the dyes come with enough product to be used on thick hair, or hair past your shoulders. My hair kind of sits on my shoulders, it's not ridiculously thick but 1 tube of the pastel Lilac dye did nothing for my hair whereas the bleach was fine however I may have needed to do it a second time to get my hair a whiter blonde.

When bleaching my hair, I left it on my head for around an hour to achieve the best look. I made sure not to do anything what so ever with my hair for the rest of that day, I towel dried my hair and applied plenty of Argon Oil hair treatment all over to give it some moisture back and repair to damage. It was a good job it being Easter Sunday I hadn't planned to go anywhere anyone would see me looking like a weird 90's reject with yellow blonde hair.

 

Once I had left my hair to rest for a day we tackled it with the Lilac Haze. The product comes in a very small tube, not enough for my hair. You get the best look from leaving the product on your hair for at least half an hour, it says 10-30 minutes on it. (I then had to go out to get another 2 more tubes to fill in any patches after the first try).

 

In every Smart Beauty hair kit you are supplied with Instructions, a blending brush, gloves and the colour of your choice. Or in the Bleach It kit you get the bleach tube and a powder which then needs to be carefully mixed together thoroughly.

 

Here's my finished look..

Hope you've enjoyed this post about my new hair.
Please let me know what you think to it and if you have any recommendations on aftercare!

Katie xxx

April Wishlist

I have a few little holidays coming up and really want to freshen up my wardrobe a little. So I've taken a night to sit and look through my favourite high-street "New In" sections for my favourite little pieces that I may have to treat myself to.

I love this time of year, it's not too warm to put jackets and coats away but it's not cold enough for a bit coat. It's definitely the time of year my blazers and boyfriend style jackets come out.

 

This playsuit is so nice, I love how casual it is yet it could be worked well for an evening out with some nice block heels or sandals and a leather jacket to keep warm when it chills down at night. I'd wear this with some white converse in the day with a nice simple necklace.

 

£19.99 @ New look

 

I really like cute oversized tops to wear on lazy days when I don't feel like dressing up much, I'd team this with my favourite black skinnies turned up at the ankle with black strappy shoes.

 

£16.00 @ River Island

 

 

 

I've been looking for the perfect leather look skirt that I can wear slightly high upon my waist and this is the best! I love how it's leather look so it's not that scary clingy material and the purple colour is gorgeous. I'd love this with a nice creamy white chiffon top, black fedora and chunky black sandals.

 

£25.00 @ River Island

 

I don't really know what's drawn me to these shoes other than the fact I'm a sucker for a good brogue!

I have a metallic silver pair I just love that I can't seem to find much to go with, so I think white is something that will definitely work with more!

 

£27.99 @ New Look

 

 

This pretty cropped t shirt is perfect for a pair of black high waist skinnies ripped at the knee and ankle boots on the cooler April days.

 

£22.00 @ Topshop

 

All these items are featured in the 'new in' sections of all the high-street stores that I've shown.

 

Katie xx