God's Interest

It's alright to have everything money can buy; as long as you don't lose what money can't buy. God is more interested in you...than in what you do. ~Dr. Danny Diaz

Exciting News

I've signed the contract today and can now spill my exciting secret... I've got a job at Company Magazine! Anyone that knows me will know how ECSTATIC I am to be able to say that! As I've said before, it is my fave magazine so as you can imagine, I'm on cloud nine! My role is Web Assistant, and will include various duties such as creating beauty/fashion/other content on Company.co.uk, blogger outreach and being the mag editor's PA too. All together now: eeeeeee!

Company has been *the dream* for me for a long time. After leaving various emails to the team languishing in my drafts folder in the past like a massive chicken, I knew receiving an invite to their Style Blogger Awards was my golden opportunity to ask about job opportunities in person. So, after a few pokes from Jen, Lily and Kristabel, I did it. And after a few nervy stages of the interview process, here I am. 

It has been a surreal week of celebrating with family and friends, quitting Topshop, shopping like MAD (I never have to think 'I love those shoes but where would I where them?' again!) and getting my bonce around the idea that I will be a part of this team that I've fangirled over for so long. 

What does this mean for the blog? Well, I'm clearly going to be a busy bee but am looking into getting an iPad for the commute so I can use the time to catch up on blogs and update my own (and join Instagram!). Plus, my outfit posts will certainly be more interesting from this day forward, as I have a reason to look fricking awesome every day now. 

Well, enough about my newly amazeballs life. You know I'm the queen of self-deprecation so I hate to be 'that guy' openly loving life! You'll let me off just this once, right? 

 ♥

Disappointment Bridge

What do you do when disappointment comes? When it weighs on you like a rock, you can either let it press you down until you become discouraged, even devastated, or you can use it as a stepping-stone to better things.
~Joyce Meyer

Find Joy

Find joy in the ordinary.
~Max Lucado

Persistence is Key

Persistence is the surest possible path to success.
~Donnie Alexander

Give Consistently

Your life is an endless cycle of sowing and reaping; giving and receiving. Create a personal schedule for sowing your finances into God's work. This will create a rhythm and consistency in the Harvests you receive from God. ~Dr. Mike Murdock
(Genesis 8:22)

in with the new

Long time no blog! I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I've had some pretty great news that I will be sharing with you in the next few days... Clue: I quit my job on Monday. Details coming soon! 

In other news, I've been shopping up a storm recently (whilst still trying to be my savvy self!) 

I bought the jelly shoes I blogged about! I ordered every colour (so I pushed the postage cost past the threshold so it was free!) and kept these two, returning the others. I used my staff discount so they were a bargain! 

I bought these gorgeous boots from Office today (sold out online, 1 pair left on eBay!) They were £35 down from £80 and are SO comfy. They are actually a size 8, a whole 1.5 sizes too big for me but they feel fine with insoles in! They're like heeled DM's without all the pain. 

I bought some Mac Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation today after becoming sick to the back teeth of liquid foundation and seeing rave reviews of this on makeupalley (best.website.ever). I had an old Mac 'Cream Base' thing that I got in a goodie bag at LFW and was never going to use, and they let me exchange it so this only cost me £5! Result!

I made the most of my last ever uniform purchases from Topshop, using my 60% discount on some more on-trend pieces, as I'll soon be spending my days in a very on-trend environment... 

I decided to channel Chanel with a little boucle jacket...

And got these swan print skinny trousers, too. I bought these a little small as an incentive to see my health-kick through and banish my wobbly bits! 

I've also bought a couple of amazing jackets in charity shops lately, too. I'll hopefully feature them soon! 

What have you been buying lately? 

Back soon, when I can hopefully unleash my secret on you all! 

♥

True Friends

True friends face in the same direction, toward common projects, interests, goals. ~C.S. Lewis

Measure of Faith

As you get the Word of God in your heart, faith will come to you. Faith will grow and strengthen in you. Faith will rise up in you and empower you to take hold of all the blessings God has for you! ~Joel Osteen

Stay on Task

Something you are doing is deciding what you are experiencing. ~Dr. Mike Murdock

God was God

I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. ~C.S. Lewis

Review: John Frieda Full Repair

*Disclaimer: I do not operate on a freebie-in-return-for-rave-review basis. If I don't like the product, I won't feature it. Or if I'm in a really bad mood, I'll feature it anyway..!*

Well, after yesterday's DIY hair dye antics, it seems a good time to tell you about this hair care range I've been trialling for a while. John Frieda's Full Repair range features products that repair hair that has been zapped by heated styling products, and also protects it from being damaged by future zapping! 

(c/o John Frieda!)

My initial concern when trying this product was that it would weigh my hair down. I barely ever use conditioner, let alone leave-in treatments, as my mop is quite fine so I don't like to weigh it down. But luckily all of the products in this collection are aimed at repairing and protecting whilst giving a volume boost at the same time. After trying out all of the conditioning products, my hair was shiny, weightless and voluminous! 

The shampoo, conditioner and styling spray are my every day go-tos and I'm really pleased with them. I blow dry and straighten my hair every without thinking about the damage being done so I'm really glad to have found a range that offers protection from styling damage without turning me into a greaseball. Thumbs up!

The Full Repair range is on offer 2 for £7.50 in Boots at the moment, if you're interested in trying it! 

Have you tried this range? What did you think? 

♥

Holy Scriptures

The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.
~Augustine

Tuesday Tip: DIY chalk hair colour!

I saw this fabulous idea over at The Beauty Department, a totally incredible blog that puts my limp attempts at creativity to shame! Appaz by using soft chalk pastels on damp hair  and then using a straightener to seal in the colour, you can create temporary dip dye and streaks! Full instructions over at The Beauty Department! 

(images from The Beauty Department)

My hair is not made for this tutorial as it is short and black, but I thought I'd have a stab at it anyway to see how it turned out! I looked for pastels in WH Smith but they were like £8, so I flounced off to The Works and got some for £3.99. It took a few tries to get the the hang of it, by which time my hair was a frizzy dry mess from all the straightening and brushing... so by the time I had got the hang of the technique, it did just look as if I had chalk in my hair. Not dye. 

During:

After:

I think this would work perfectly well on those with lighter hair, but I don't think it's impossible to get the look on black hair. In the future, I will do it on clean hair, get it right first time now I know how to do it, and consider buying more posh and pigmented chalks (I think art stores sell them individually, so no need for a pricey WH Smith bulk buy). 

What do you think of this idea? If you've tried it, do you have any tips or techniques to share? 

♥

His Love Unites

Christ's love creates unity out of diversity.
~David McCasland

DIY Nail Art: Felines at your Fingertips

The quest for cute stuff to stick on my nails has never been easy. Ebay is a big place, but it never seemed big enough to have cute cat stickers/decals other than cheesy cartoony ones. So, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw Heather's amazing animal-adorned nails on her fab blog the other day. Off to eBay I went.

Janchristie is a fairly new eBay store set up by two animal enthusiasts who were facing exactly the same struggle as me. Except they didn't just sit on the internet and whine about the lack of cute animal nail art supplies, like me. They decided to make their own! They have birds, dogs, cats and more in their fabulous store! They are photographers, so have used photos of their own 'models' (although they can make-to-order, too!) I ordered 5 sets of stickers at £2.15 each with free P&P and here's what I chose! 

(cats found here, pugs here)

(Janchristie on Facebook)

For my first manicure, I cut out some of my 'talking cat' stickers! I found the ones that looked best on the nail were the ones I cut tightly around the edges, not leaving any clear plastic around the outside. I used a base colour of Leighton Denny Babydoll (c/o Glossybox), stuck the stickers on and sealed in with Seche Vite. 

I didn't really have time to do every nail today, so for my latest manicure I decided on a Pug statement nail! 

I used Models Own Snow White as a base, and did polka dots of Rimmel's 60 Seconds Black Out using a trusty kirby grip. My spots weren't very neatly spaced as I was a bit sleepy, but if you squint - THEY ROCK, right?  

I'm just beyond thrilled with my new nail stickers. It's lovely to see a UK seller providing such exciting, unique and cheap products to us nail art/animal enthusiasts - I've lined plenty of pockets in Hong Kong in the past, so it's nice to 'buy local' for a change! 

I've been emailing with Janchristie to hear all about their story, and they have kindly offered you guys some free samples if you type 'GEM' in the comment box when you pay on eBay. Needless to say, I totally recommend these stickers as they are clearly adorable and so different to anything else on the market right now. 

What do you think of my animal-tastic nail art? Would you invest in these nail stickers?

♥ 

Seek the Lost

Those who have been found should seek the lost.
~David McCasland

God Writes

God writes opportunity on one side of the door and responsibility on the other.
~Dennis Fisher

Seek His Shelter

The storms of life remind us to take shelter in the loving arms of our Savior. ~Dave Branon

A Faulty Foundation

(Any excuse to sneak pop punk songs of my yoof into the blog).

So, let's cut to the chase. Here's what I wore to town with my gurl Jen on Wednesday:

Jacket - H&M kids, Dress - Topshop (sold out now), Necklace - c/o Rock 'n' Rose, Snood - Topshop, Boots and Bag - Charity shop

My Rock 'n' Rose Kora necklace has been causing a stir... I didn't realise its 'anti christ' connotations, but old women have been scowling and dissing me in the street! One woman loudly muttered 'Oh dear.' at me on the train! Charming! I shall still continue to wear it in the name of all things edgy. Soz, god.

Ma face. Wearing Estee Lauder Double Wear in Shell with a bit of ELF cool bronzer! This look could've done with a slick of lippy in hindsight!

Nothing too exciting to report on in general life, but in makeup matters I am on the lookout for a(nother) new foundation... I bought Clinique Even Better a while back and liked it but the colour is just too dark and yellow for me. I knew it was in the shop but just couldn't say no to the deal of dreams... This foundation took away my paleness and I realised that I couldn't be having that as I am proudly pasty. So I have since tried Illamasqua's Skin Base and love it, but am biding my time to get one on eBay or a blog sale seeing as I don't really want to blow another £25 on foundation... Let me know if you see shade 02 for sale on your travels, or if you have one you want to sell! By the way, one of my Twitter followers has told me you can get 20% off using the code NIHRIDA20! Still doesn't make it cheap enough for this scrimper, though.

Oh, foundation shopping. It's worse than jeans, isn't it? 

♥

Reward of Faith

Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.
~Augustine

Desire to Destiny

When your heart decides the destination, your mind will design the map to reach it. ~Dr. Mike Murdock

10 Years Younger

BEHOLD, my friends. 

The biker of my dreams - from none other than H&M's Kids section! 

(all H&M besides Topshop boots!)

I've been looking for a replacement for my Topshop biker since it started looking a bit ropey (and since I got pink nail polish on one of the lapels at LFW...)  and it turns out, I'm aged 13-14 when it comes to bikers for kids! The price you pay for wearing clothes aimed at people a decade younger than you? Well, the jacket doesn't exactly do up with ease... But then nor does my knackered Topshop biker which was a size 12, so go figure! This is actually much comfier on the arms than my Topshop one too, and has a much more 'bikery' look with the silver details! £19.99 VERY well spent. 

The dress is one of their £7.99 summer bargains, too. My daisy love continues! 

I posted about shopping in the kids' section as a Tuesday Tip once, if you wanted a few pointers! (Waaa, don't know why the pics have gone all squished!)

Do you ever shop in the kids' section? 

Off out for Nando's and drinks now - perfection!!

♥

Into His Purpose

The pharisees minded what God spoke, but not what He intended. They were busy in the outward work of the hand, but incurious of the affections and choice of the heart. So God was served in the letter, they did not much inquire into His purpose; and therefore they were curious to wash their hands, but cared not to purify their hearts. ~Jeremy Taylor

Love is Free

I'm running out the door to go on my shopping spree with my buddy but had to share these awesome pictures that arrived in my inbox yesterday! Charlotte Free, aka pink-haired goddess of my dreams, is the new face of Forever21's S/S 2012 campaign! 

Loving the abundance of collars and prints! Apparently this is the first of a series of edgy campaign's Forever21 will be globally releasing in the future. I hope this means the stock will be getting a bit edgier as although I've only been in the store a couple of times, I've been underwhelmed! I'm sure this gorge campaign will up the brand's cool factor - it's certainly persuading me to haul my boyfriend (aka. chauffeur) to Westfield so I can give Forever21 another shot! 

What are your thoughts on Forever21 and this shoot? 

I'm off now, wish me bargains! 

xo

Wait With Patience

If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people have always been a waiting people.
~Charles Spurgeon

Tuesday Tip: DIY Daisy Nail Art!

I've been super inspired by daisy prints since acquiring my fabulous Republic jeans and seeing the abundance of daisy prints at the Motel blogger event the other day! And what do we do when we love a trend but for hygiene reasons can't wear the same item of clothing every single day? All together now: Make it nail art! 

(Clockwise: Motel playsuit, Oasis dress, Motel crop top, Republic jeans, Topshop bralet, H! by Henry holland dress)

My manicure of the moment is so perfect for Spring and has received loads of comments from people thinking they're nail stickers! Nope, this is all real! It's a really simple look to create and hopefully you'll get the gist from my little graphic, but if not, here's how to get the look:

✿ Start with a base colour - I used blue to match my Republic daisy jeans!

✿ Using yellow nail polish, dot a few dots on the nail, leaving enough space between each for the petals

✿ Using white nail polish, dot around the yellow spots to create petals

✿ Yellow polish is usually a bit thin, so once you’ve done the petals, go back and do another blob of yellow in the middle

✿ Finish with a slick of topcoat to seal the design in and make it look like one smooth layer (you can see how bumpy it looks without a topcoat in the bottom-right picture above!)

What do you think of the daisy nail look? 

xo


PS - I did the little daisy icons in the text above using CopyPasteCharacter! Amazing text graphics you can paste into text to jazz up blog posts and tweets!