Would you rather beauty tag with J.

Hey Guys!

We have a little tag for you today :) Enjoy!

1.Would you rather go out with messy hair and nice make-up or Nice hair and no make-up?

R: Messy hair and nice make up! You can always rock a grunge look.

J: Messy hair and nice make up... Sorry.

2.Would you rather shave your eyebrows or have your eyelashes fall out?

R: Shave my eyebrows, I draw them on everyday anyway.

J: Eyelashes fall out, there's no way I'm drawing my eyebrows on... I can't trust myself.

3.Would you rather be forced to shop at only MAC or Sephora for the rest of your life?

R: Sephora all the way! I don't really care for MAC much anymore.

J: The not MAC, I needs that variety.

4.Would you rather wear lipgloss/lipliner look or 80's perm?

R: I reckon I could rock an 80s perm! ;)

J: 80's PERM!!

5.Would you rather leave the house with an obvious foundation line or overdone blush?

R: Overdone blush... Blush wears off so quickly on me it would be acceptable in under an hour.

J: Ahhh I don't know... Foundation line... This face does not look good pink.

6.Would you rather wear MC Hammer pants or biker shorts in public?

R: Mc hammer pants, every time!

J: Biker shorts, because they tight.

7.Would you rather have a bad orange-y spray tan or really weird tan lines that can't be covered?

R: This is the toughest question! Both are horrible options... I'm going to have to go with the Orange tan, at least i won't be the only one walking around like that.

J: Really don't want to be orange but I don't want to look like I failed.

8.Would you rather have a bad haircut or bad hair color?

R: A bad cut, at least with that you can style it to hide the whack job.

J: Colour. If you have bad cut you can't hide it at least you can change colours.

R: Ohhhhh that makes so much more sense... looks like I'm stuck with a wig.

9.Would you rather have youtube or twitter taken away forever?

R: Twitter. I don't understand it anyway.

J: Twitter! youtube has cat videos!!

10. Would you rather give up using makeup brushes or mascara? 

R: Neither. Haha If I really had to I think make up brushes... I'd just use cream products and my fingers. There's no way in hell that I could give up mascara, although I could just use falsies! Aghhh I don't know?!

J: Make up brushes... fuck it.

This was so much fun to write! We may do more tags with J ;)

Until next time.

 R & J x

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I don't know who created this, but here is an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cr1z3_CILs

The best martini in Manhattan

I feel like this post needs a little explanation... I wrote this back in September whilst living the dream in my soul city but I can't let the martini's of New York to go to waste! I was on a mission to find the best martini ever! Spoiler, I didn't really find it. So far my favourite is still a good old dirty martini from The Rouge Saint in Lincoln.

#1 The Belgian beer cafe on the corner of 5th & 26th. Dirty gin martini. $8 

A very drinkable martini doesn't give the normal burn! One for those who want to look awesome, don't particularly enjoy the burn of a good martini and drink more than a couple at a time . Overall, a very good martini and very cheap.

Dirty gin martini, A-

You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a martini. We went to 5 Napkin for tea and I had to settle for gin based cocktails. The first one was made for me, called smokin' Rosie. The second was a French 55. Both were lovely but the smokin' Rosie needed food.

Smokin' Rosie. C+

French 55. B+

We took a quick pit stop in the David Burke cafe in Bloomingdales. I had a cool as a cucumber, at $18 it's not the cheapest in the city but it was the most beautiful tasting drink I've ever had! The mix is simple, gin, agave cucumber and lemon. I even asked for the measurements, 2oz Hendricks gin, 1oz of both agave and lemon or lime, muddled cucumbers with a splash of cucumber juice.

Cool as a cucumber. A+ 

Next, we moved on to schulbergs on 2nd & 12th I had multiple negronis here. The first time we went I got them 241 at happy hour but we went back a couple of days later and paid $12 each. They were very drinkable and very alcoholic.

Schulberg's negroni factor A- 

Sam place different cocktail. I realise I was searching for the best gin martini and I had only had 1! So we got another in schulbergs. This time at $14 it was a little on the pricey side. It was drinkable at first but the more and more you got into it, the burn became apparent. If anything this is my favourite martini experience.

Schulberg's Martini A

I hope y'all enjoyed this one! If your heading to the big apple anytime soon, you need to try the cool as a cucumber cocktail in Bloomingdales!!! 

Until next time.

R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Lazy Girl Nails: Take Two.

So if you caught my last post in my series for lazy girls, you will know that the Nails Inc. Paint cans are pretty much a waste of money.

This time I bit the bullet and bought Sensationail. I have so many nail polishes I thought best to get the Polish to gel starter kit, so I can use up my current polishes before splurging on the gel ones.

In the box.

For £49.99 you get:
Led lamp
Gel Primer
Gel transformer
Cleanser
Lint wipes
nail files
Mixing tray - for some reason mine wasn't in the box :(
Shitty cuticle push

How to apply.

So there are two ways to apply using your own polish. You can either paint your nails as normal, wait for it to dry and then apply the gel or you can mix the gel and polish together. I went with the first option and painted my nails first. One nail messed up and I ended up peeling it off, so I did one nail the mixing way.

First Impressions.

Lets start with the painting method first, as this is the way I did the majority of my nails. It was just as tedious as painting my nails normally. Boo. I suppose it would have been easier if I had used a fast drying polish! Once they were dry, I followed the surprisingly easy to follow instructions and cured the nails, ending by cleaning of the sticky layer. The first thing that shocked me was that they were completely dry! I don't know why but I was just so shocked. If you're anything like me and have shaky hands, the only down side to this method is the amount of polish on all over the skin.

So on to the mixing method. This actually worked much better and my one nail was done within 2 minutes, from start to finish. So they recommend for a full set to mix 6 drops of the gel transformer and 6 drops of your nail polish together. As I was only doing one nail I mixed three, it was probably enough for two nails. I would bet my 98% of my life that 6 drops would not do both hands! Even though this method was wayyyyyyy easier and quicker, I used so much more gel.

Overall, I'm a happy bunny. It only took me about an hour in total and that was mostly spend waiting for my polish to dry. It's easy as pie to apply and feels great once they are on. I'm going to see how long it lasts, the box claims up to two weeks but my nails usually chip within hours.

Results. 

Ive been using this system for about a month now. I even went out and bought the actual gel polishes! I think having the actual gel polishes make it 10 times easier! my nails take minutes now! There is only one issue I have with it... I just can't stop peeling them off. Whether they last a day or a week as soon as one chips i peel them all off. I'm working on it but it's just so satisfying to peel them off!


Until next time.

 R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

10 ways to be a savvy saver and get out of debt

I'm going to do a little disclaimer on this one. In no way do I consider myself a financial expert but I just wanted to share my tips and tricks on keeping yourself out of debt and saving money. Whether you're saving from something in particular or just to have a little cushion in times of need. Now that's out of the way lets get into it.

Anyone find it hilarious I have more dollars than pounds?!

Ill give you a little back story. About 6 months ago I caved and applied for a credit card. I felt I was at the point in my life where I thought I had the self control to use it sensibly. Hell was I wrong. For years I said I was never going to get one, I went 23 years of my life without even an overdraft. I had a decent amount of savings and I was dealing without lending money.

Anyone that knows me, knows I have a taste for the finer things in life. When I got the credit card I said to myself I would only use around £100 a month to treat myself to these things. Well that went so far out the window, I can't even. I got to the point where I was living off my credit card and paying it off with my paycheck. Some months I couldn't even pay it off and that's when the interest started. Here we are 2 months later and even though I am still having to live off it to be able to pay it off, we are getting there. So now that you know my story here's some of the things I have changed to turn my financial life around.

1: Unsubscribe to those daily shopping emails. 
You name the shop, I was on their mailing list. Countless emails everyday tempting me to spend willy nilly on things I didn't need. I've cleared out my subscriptions, now I only get emails about freebies  and samples.

2: Use your savings to pay your debt. 
If your in debt but you have savings you are literally spending your savings anyway. In a nutshell, debt costs more than savings earn. I can guarantee that the interest rate on your savings account is less that half of the interest on the debt. Therefore, you are spending more money being in debt that you are earning on the savings. I used the remaining of my once beautiful savings account to pay as much of the credit card off as I could and it was the best decision I've  ever made. I was earning less that £5 a month on the savings but paying around £10 for the credit card. Its madness.

3: Don't buy it if you can't afford it. 
This was the main reason I got to where I was... I was spending like £30 a day on nothing, random shopping trips would leave me over £100 down. I just didn't seem to realise that I was spending more than I had. I don't know if anyone saw the viral Facebook post about the guy in York that spent £70 on a trip to the cinema with his kids but I read that article with my new money conscious head like wtf was he thinking. I'm not saying stop doing things and do enjoy yourself but if you go the cinema and spend £70 on yourself and 2 kids, when tickets are like £5-9 you must be doing something wrong. He literally must have spent over £40 on food, for Christ sake why not just take £1 sweets in?! Nobody wants to pay £5 for shit nachos.

4: Whittle down your basket when shopping online. 
Say you really need something and the best way is to buy online. If you're anything like me that one thing you need will turn into six more things your just have to have! Last week, I did my first Boots shop since I had decided to change my spending habits. I started off in old spending mode and went from a just a primer to a basket full of beauty products I already have too much of. I sat there looking at my basket of over £60 like, I just can't spend this.  In the end, I spent £20. I went through everything individually and asked myself 'do I actually need this?' the answer is usually no.

5: Prep your meals.
I would love to say that I've gone from food shopping every night to being able to do a weekly shop and that's it. I have not been able to get this one under control yet. I have started packing lunch for work instead of paying about £4 a day in the canteen, but at night I still have to shop. I have started buying food every other day and making sure I have things for the next couple of days. We are slowly stopping the £7 a day on tea.

6: Set savings goals.
Even if you're not saving for anything in particular, set a goal. I've got multiple trips to save up for (hint hint: there may be another New York blog/video later this year) but even on top of putting money away for these I've decide to satisfy my handbag addiction I am going to save for a high end purchase. I've set myself a limit and I have a few options for when I get there so I know I'll get one I want.

7: If you don't use it, sell it. 
I have had 2 iPhone 4's just chilling in my draws for 2 years... a year ago they were worth £100 now they are worth £20. In know it's hard because you never know you could need that 3rd phone in a couple of years... but you really don't. I have multiple things I don't use anymore just collecting dust. there are so many ways to re-sell your unused things. Gumtree, eBay, Envirophone! Just suck it up and part ways.

8: Use what you have.
If you are anything like me, you have back ups of back ups. I cannot even tell you how many back up cleansers and facial scrubs I have chilling in my back up draw. Hell, I even have a back up draw. I have about 8 tubes of toothpaste and god knows how many bottles of nail varnish remover! If you have it you most definitely do not need another one yet.

9: Shop around.
Ok, so you have a hankering for this beautiful something. I can almost guarantee you can find it or something very similar somewhere on the magical world of the Internet for less money. I was majorly lusting over the Chloé drew bag, God knows I don't have £1000 for it. After a little shop around I found one rather similar one in Accessorize for £35. I know its not that much cheaper but its a massive difference.

10: DIY
So this is one money saver I have always tried to do but before, there were things I thought I couldn't do.  I started off by doing my own nails, and eyebrows. That's easily £40 a month in savings by doing it yourself. Last week some complete poopface decided to take out Dennis' wing mirror, garage wanted to charge me around £55 to sort it. Bought a replacement on eBay for £14 and found a YouTube video showing me how to replace it. Bam, brand spanking new wing mirror and saved about £40. Lesson learnt, if you can do it yourself why pay someone to do it for you?!

Until next time.

 R x

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Save or splurge: Chelsea boots

So if you're anything like me with tree trunks for legs, you will know the struggle. Trying to find a pair of ankle boots that don't make our legs looks even bigger is virtually impossible. But good news ladies, I think I might have found them.

Let me start with a little back story. So as I'm sure your now aware I have been searching for the perfect pair of chelsea boots for well over 6 months. Whilst on my recent adventure in Dublin, we were out one day and my shoes decide to fall apart right in the middle of a rain storm. We were coming up on 6/7 pm and a lot of the shops were starting to shut. We wandered past a Penny's (Primark) and I caved, there was no way I was going to make it back to the hotel without buying some form of new foot covering. So me and T ran in and had a look round the shoes. I was originally looking for the shoes I had on... mainly because they are £3 and I was quickly running out of money. They literally had nothing I could see myself in, but then I saw them. Today's steal, these vaguely attractive grey ankle boots with a slit in the side. Once I had them on my feet I was sold. €17 later I had wonderfully toasty feet. My only regret is not buying the other colour! Apparently British and ROI Primark/Penny's do not carry the same stock :'( 

After a few weeks of loving these cheap ass shoes, I knew I needed another pair. Primark was a bust as they were specifically for Penny's, believe me I went as far as contacting primark to see if I could get them! So my hunt began. I searched the depths of the internet for hours and literally found nothing. Randomly out of no where I tried Jeffrey Campbell, low and behold they had a whole range of boots with the same alluring side slit. I caved and parted with £111 (after discount) 6 times more than I had paid for the first pair. When they arrived, guess what... they didn't fit! I was mortified. They went back in the box and back to the shop. My search began again. 

J was the one who found the next pair, on a casual late night scroll through ASOS. Now I was indecisive, I was too worried that they were going to come and not fit, again. But again I caved. This time they arrived and for the first 5 minutes I though they were going to have to go back. To my joy after warming up a little they were just as comfortable and the primarni ones. Only issue now is I want the black ones and ASOS are out of stock! (edit back they are back in stock but I'm too skint to justify more shoes)

Splurge: Jeffrey Campbell Savion cut out boots £131

Pros:

Full leather 

Waterproof

Cons: 

Price

not suitable for wide feet

Save: ASOS Rumble pointed ankle boots £38

Pros:

Price

gold accents

Cons: 

Synthetic

Water makes them crumple

Steal: Primark split side ankle boots €20/£15

Pros:

Price

Wide fit

Cons: 

Synthetic

Water makes them crumple

Adventures in: Dublin

So me and Josh have been talking about doing this birthday adventure since he was 18... Here we are 5 years later on his 23rd birthday chilling in the motherland with a Guinness in hand. Note to self if you going on a group trip, don't let J book things. We're on the 6.25 flight home on Monday morning.

Before we even left the hotel decided to cancel on us and we were without a roof. In the end we found one, out by the airport. Cost us more in taxi's but on it made out 3am wake up call on Monday much more bearable 

Much of the week was spent either in the pub or shopping. Hungover on Friday, we spent most of the day trying to find C a new phone.. Boy cannot live without tinder. Don't judge me but I had to stay in on Friday night, beer has not been agreeing with me lately. Hence a recent trip to the quack, but that's another story. We spend Saturday in the Guinness factory. If anyone goes to Dublin, it really is the one and only place you have to go! I cannot explain to you the difference between even Irish Guinness and the first pint in the storehouse. As it was J's birthday we found a cute little Italian to celebrate. If you want a beautiful cheesy lasagna hit up The Italian Corner. Somehow they managed to get 23 candles into a tiramisu.

Saturday night ended in Everleigh Garden, Both myself and Connor were on dating apps.. Ironic being in a room full of people and your phone is still more attractive than actually mingling with real people. Despite being sat on my phone half the night like a boring bitch, it was a great night. Trying to hail a cab at 3am was not, everyone and their mother wanted a god damn cab.

Sunday, was pretty much a write off. We managed to make it into town for the football, only to have them turn over to the rugby! Although, the Philly cheese steak in Quays bar was on point. To end the trip we had a drunken adventure in an arcade, met some crack heads in the Pool bar and managed to stay out of the drunken rugby bar fights. 

It was such a good long weekend and anyone planning a trip to Dublin, the one tip I can give you is... to over budget! I took €300 to start with and had to top up about €200. It is most definitely not a cheap trip.

I did film parts of the trip but a lot of the time I was more focused on Guinness that I was handling the camera! So if you want to see part of what we got up to... here your go.

So this has been along time coming... it has taken a good few weeks for me to be bothered to edit the video. Enjoy!

Until next time.

 R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

No More D-word

I have finally come to my senses, I have seen the light. Dieting does not work. I have wasted so much of my life dabbling with every fad diet out there. Some of them are easy and work for a while, others are terrible and some just do nothing. No matter what I do no fad diet is never going to be a life long change, when you finally come to this conclusion you realised that you need to make changes that will work for you.

This epiphany came a couple of weeks ago, I realised that restricting things just makes me want them more. I found that cutting things down and choosing healthier options is the way forward. It  came after reading an article about the 'clear skin diet' - for the life of me I can't find the article now :( - but they kept going on about how the diet was so easy because it was all things that most people would be happy to eat anyway. It got me thinking how if you wouldn't eat it normally your not going to stick to a diet.

If anyone read my diet posts from last year, I was doing the military diet. I loved it. It was possibly the best diet I have ever done but it was just too restrictive. I probably stuck to it for a couple of months before my sandwich and chocolate addiction took control.

This time I have just been making healthier choices, instead of having a sandwich, ill have a salad. I'm having easy cook meals in smaller portions so I can still enjoy everything I love. My chocolate addiction is satisfied by a Freddo, which by the way are now 25p. 25 fucking p.  I know that if I want take-out it's not the end of the world. I just won't be having them multiple times a week anymore.

At the moment I'm feeling pretty positive and after two weeks I've lost 6 hopefully this one lasts. I might do a few healthy posts every now and then, it keeps me accountable.


Until next time.

 R x

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥