London antics

 Big Ben on a cloudy day

 M&M World

 Free Look magazine at the hotel

 Finding Nemo! London Aqaurium

 View from our hotel lobby

 Michael Kors shop!

 Train playsuit

Pink & Purple M&M's :-)

 Our hotel

Sharks! London Aquarium

Finally got to wear my new Topshop dress!

 Penguins! So cute, London Aquarium

As you may know if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram that over the weekend I went to London! Yay! I absolutely love going to London, the atmosphere and busyness I love. We stayed in an AMAZING hotel over night and I would totally recommend it 100% if you're ever going to stay in London. It's called the Park Plaza hotel and it's situated in the middle of a huge roundabout, how cool? First day we went to the London Aquarium which was so good! As soon as you enter you have to walk over this glass path and underneath you you can see the shark pool. It's pretty scary to walk over but so awesome and fun. The penguins were by far the best attraction in the aquarium although the sharks were pretty scary cool. We then did some sight seeing of the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament Square and so on. After that we hopped on a bus and headed to Leicester Square where M&M world is located (I LOVE M&M'S!!!) and then we just popped into a few other shops. The second day we headed down to Oxford Street, my favourite place, and this is where I went to my first Forever 21 shop and it was A-MAZING! I didn't go too crazy but loved it! I don't have a shop anywhere near me so have always been restricted to the internet shop so I was so glad when I got to go in. Then of course whenever you go to Oxford street you HAVE to go into Primark.. so we did. And boy were we in there for a long time... but I love it every single time, hehe. Again didn't go too crazy as I'm saving for a new car but got some essential bits :-) I have a good time every time I go to London and would go way more than I do already if I could! So I just thought I would share some of my pictures with you and give you an update! 

Hope you've all had a lovely week! xo

Twitter: @natalieellis23

Instagram: natalieellis23

Winter Wonderland

I went shopping, again, yesterday! Doh! But I'd heard from many other bloggers that the Models Own Wonderland collection was in Boots stores so I just HAD to head in and see if it was in one of my local stores and I got a little bit excited when I saw that it was! I had seen so many photographs of bloggers nails with the different polishes on and they looked so amazing. I'm literally such a sucker for a glitter nail varnish, I have so many in my collection!

From my recent order from e.l.f I ordered this mint nail varnish, I believe it was only something like £2.50 which is crazy I had to try one. I chose this colour called 'Mint Cream'. It's such a pretty colour. Although I didn't find the application of the polish very easy, it was very liquidy (don't even know if that's a word) but I had to ration how much was on the brush. I also had to use 3 coats as it was very thin. If I was going to wear this colour by itself then I would have definitely had to put another coat of the colour on which I wasn't that impressed with. But for £2.50 can I really complain?

I then added 2 coats of the Models Own 'Jack Frost' and OH MY GOD, is it possible to fall in love with a nail varnish? I think this is most definitely now my favourite nail varnish in my collection (alongside with my trusty OPI Rainbow Connection, hehe) It really is the most gorgeous glitter. It's tiny flecks of iridescent glitter which change colour in the light, so so so so pretty! I just wanted to add so many layers but 2 is definitely enough to cover the nail and make it so it shows up. I don't think the pictures do this glitter varnish enough justice, you really need to go and purchase it and try it yourself, I'm 100% sure you'll fall in love!

Yesterday I did also purchase a pack of 3 Models Own Minis which included 2 other nail varnishes from the Wonderland collection, along with 'Jack Frost' called 'Blizzard' and 'Southern Lights' and the other varnish in the 3 pack was just one of their glitter polishes called 'Pink Fizz'. The mini's are so cute, I've never really wanted to purchase the mini's as I'm one for full varnishes as I always use my varnish and even more so glitter varnishes. But this 3 pack was cute and meant that it was only 1 item in my Boots 3 for 2 :-P hehe.

My final purchase was some imPress nails. When these first came out I was so excited and really wanted to get my hands on them but they didn't come to my local Boots store for aaaages and after that I sort of lost interest and forgot. But yesterday I picked up a pack called 'TGIF'. They are a lovely floral pattern and I thought I'd go for a nice pattern as something different than just a normal colour. I've heard many good reviews on these so I'm excited to try them. The only thing that had put me off was the price, they were £8.99 which I think is a lot but I believe you get enough nails to use them twice which is good :-)

Have you tried any of these products?

What are your thoughts?

Twitter: @natalieellis23

Instagram: @natalieellis23

xo

Florals and chains

Shirt - H&M 

Jeans - River Island (old)

Chain - Accessorize

Watch - Michael Kors

I'm excited but also kind of nervous about this post in particular, it's my very first OOTD post. I had quite a few responses on Twitter and Instagram about this outfit, the shirt in particular so thought I would actually share it with you guys on my blog. The main feature is clearly the shirt and of course it would be.. it's gorgeous! I picked it up from H&M just last week. It was £19.99 but I had a £5 off voucher so in fact got it for £14.99 which is a bargain for a shirt! I first saw this online a while back but set my eyes aside (I'm meant to be saving money here!) Then when I stumbled into the shop with my voucher we met again... and I couldn't resist! Nothing else in H&M caught my eye so it was meant to be.

The shirt is crisp white then has a gorgeous floral pattern down both sides of the shirt and also over the shoulders. The floral colours include red, burgundy, purple, blue, pink, mint, beige and then lighter/darker tones of all of those colours, it really is amazing! I like my shirts to be a slightly longer length than sat my t-shirts or whatever and I found this one was a lovely length and slightly dipped at the back. I did my top button up, which is great as I find some shirts can be way too tight with the top button done up and I feel as if I can't breathe! But this one was a nice loose fitting. I then chucked my gold chain over the top so that from front view of the shirt it wasn't just plain white and gave it a bit more detailing.

I paired the shirt with black skinny jeans which you can mainly see in the first picture, but nothing exciting. I didn't want to take the eyes away from the shirt. Although I think it would look great with jeans, even high waisted jeans and tuck the shirt in, a skater skirt, wet look leggings, just anything simple to keep the shirt the main detailing of the outfit. I then just flung on my tan chelsea boots which I don't have a picture of unfortunately but they are just your normal chelsea boot, in tan and I purchased them in a Dorothy Perkins sale last year for around £20, bargain!! They are so easy to style and go with pretty much ANY outfit which is why I love them so much. Although they are slightly big so I find myself having to wear thick socks so they fit ;-) ha ha.

I think that just about rounds off my first OOTD post, PLEEEEEASE let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I didn't ramble on toooo much :-) xo

Whole lotta love

1. Firework

2. Brazil

3. Pluto

4. Panther 

5. Stardust

I AM IN LOVE! These Topshop nail varnishes are all beautiful! I just simply need to get my hands on some of these polishes. I have only ever purchased one other Topshop varnish before but I cannot begin to explain how much I loved it and I got many comments from you lovely bloggers telling me how much you loved it too, which is always amazing. Although I have never tried a glitter varnish I'm sure they'd be just as good as my other! They just look too pretty, my eyes are instantly drawn to these beauties. 

Have you ever tried a glitter Topshop nail polish? What do you think of them?

Check out my other Topshop nail post here: http://simplyjustnatalie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/topshop-nail-varnish-eclipse.html

Twitter: @natalieellis23

Instagram: @natalieellis23

Hope you have a lovely weekend xo

Essie Orange, It's Obvious

After my first giveaway featuring Essie, I finally tried the nail varnishes (before the giveaway) for myself and I absolutely LOVE them! Although I love pretty much all nail varnishes with some negatives I don't really know if I have any negatives on the Essie nail varnishes. This particular colour is called 'Orange, It's Obvious' and well they're not wrong there! The colour is a dark bright orange and is gorgeous! The application of this was dead easy, probably the easiest I have ever found in any polishes! Slight negative would only have to be that I find you have to apply 3 coats otherwise you really don't get the coverage of colour, 2 coats is not enough. But apart from that it's perfect, after 3 coats the colour is intense and topped with a top coat it makes them look amazing. And even after a full day at work I got NO chips! Even better in my eyes. If you have never tried an Essie nail varnish then I definitely recommend them! And what a better time to try them when Boots are doing 3 for 2! :-)

Hope you're all having a lovely week!

Twitter: @natalieellis23

Instagram: @natalieellis23

xo

My week in pictures #11

✮ Annoying my pooch ✮ Gorgeous new Topshop dress ✮ Comfy bed ✮ Favourite yoghurt ✮ MUA shade 12 nails ✮ New vintage cups ✮ Self portrait ✮ New primark bird shirt ✮ Keeping warm ✮ Models Own sale purchases ✮ Pooch ✮ New book read ✮ New laptop! ✮ W7 Lava Flow nails ✮ Boots purchases ✮ Jewellery purchases from work ✮

W7 Lava Flow

 

I found this little beauty of a nail polish in The Factory Shop one day when shopping with my mother. It was only £2!! But I loved the fact that it was a white varnish with red and black flecks of glitter in. I was completely drawn to it and just had to buy it of course, like any other pretty nail varnish I see, ha ha. 

I'd never tried a W7 nail polish before this one but I can honestly say this one is amazing! I think I did 2 coats (can't entirely remember :-| sorry!) but if you wanted more coverage of the glitter then it would have looked great with 3 coats too! The application brush was great and the polish went on really smoothly. I can't believe I've never discovered these varnishes before and at such an adorable price. I couldn't believe it. I believe there were different colours in this polish in The Factory Shop so I will definitely be going back for a look! (Although I do have 7 other new nail varnishes which I am yet to try, so keep your eyes peeled!) I sealed this with a top coat and can say this varnish was also very hardwearing whilst I was a work, which is another thing I love about nail polishes.

This is short and sweet but I absolutely love this polish and recommend you try one if you haven't before, I'm sure you'll fall in love with it like I have :-) xo

Haul post #4

I know I haven't done a proper haul post in a VERY long time but recently I've been purchasing so many bits and bobs that I thought it'd be lovely to share it all with you guys!

First is a Primark bargain.. I spotted this from afar and absolutely fell in love. It's just such a cute shirt and includes lovely warm, autumn colours. It was a steal at only £10 and I think it can either be dressed up or down and probably worn with absolutely anything, so versatile :-) I was trying to budget and my hands were pretty full so I left a couple of other things, unfortunately, but couldn't leave this cute number!

The Models Own 50% off summer sale.. If you haven't been there already then go NOW! I know there's not much time left to purchase half price. I did so pretty much straight away, as you probably all know I do love my nail varnishes. From left to right I purchased: Bare Beauty, Soda Pop Pink, Magenta Divine, Hed Kandi Beach Party and then some make up sponges. I could have purchased so many more but I restrained myself as I still have probably 3 other new nail varnishes which I am yet to even try! Oops! I heard so many good reviews about the Head Kandi Beach Party that I really wanted to get my hands on it and for all nail polishes at £2.50 I couldn't leave it. I'm intrigued about the make up sponges as I've always wanted to try these as the smaller end is meant to get to the 'hard to reach places' and the wider end for the rest of your face.

Boots next, I finally purchased this Collection 2000 mascara which so many people had raved about to me! I have tried it once already and wasn't completely sold but you never know it may grow on me with time to come so I'm not going to give up now! Secondly I purchased the beautiful skin day cream in normal to oily skin. I purchased the night cream version of this a while back and absolutely loved it but already had a day moisuriser so didn't purchase this one until my current one had, nearly, all gone. I was so excited as I am in love with the night cream. It makes my skin so soft so can't wait to try the day cream too :-)

I LOVE MY RUSSIAN HAT! Ever since this beauty arrived in stock at work I'd been trying to think of reasons not to buy it... and to be honest I couldn't actually think of any! So come pay day this hat was mine. It's so warm and cosy and cute! I don't have much else to say about this... I'm just in love, that is all.

More work purchases here.. Jewellery! Working where I work I always love experimenting with new bits of jewellery. I don't actually wear that much myself but am desperatly trying to make myself wear more. I always wear my essential watch and 2 rings and that's pretty much it. So I purchased a long gold chain which I thought I could just chuck on with pretty much any item of clothing.. top button of a shirt done up and chain on. Then I purchased a silver bobbly bracelet, it's really cute.. and silver as I secretly prefer silver jewellery personally. I think this again can just be a chuck on bracelet with yet again pretty much anything!

Finally, this morning before work I got a little bit distracted in Topshop with thanks to Kayleigh @ Couture Girl. I only saw this top on her blog last night and I instantly fell in love so I couldn't resist! I love the way she styled it so I really wanted to try it for myself. I believe you can either dress it up or down on a slouchy sofa day, it's great! And a bargain at only £16 (well slightly priced) but who cares I really love it :-)

Hope you liked my haul, don't forget to leave a comment! xoxo