Stila and Sally Hansen Cosmetics at Poundland

Yes, you read that right. At the moment you can find a small selection of Stila and Sally Hansen at your local Poundland.

I bought the Stila Angel Whitening Powder refill and the Sally Hansen fast dry nail color pen in Silver.

Sally Hansen at Poundland for £1 !

They only had a silver colour in the massive Southampton Poundland. I tried it out in the shop (naughty) and found that it went on really easily and dried SUPER quickly. It comes in pen form and you click the end to get the polish out. The effect is a little like if you drew on your nails with metallic pen and it would probably need a top coat to make it last.....but for a £1 it's amazing.

The Stila powder seems to be a mix of foundation and powder and I really only bought it because it was cheap and the packaging is cute! It highlights the fact that my skin is a bit dry so I would probably need to exfoliate and moisturise before using it.

They were also selling a Stila tinted moisturiser but only in a dark colour called Tan. Probably too dark for most British people!

Beautiful illustrations on the Stila packaging

3 sachets in each box

Foundation sponge and foundation/ powder in each sachet.

I assume this refill is meant for some sort of compact that you can buy from Stila. If I get on well with it then I'll have a look around for something to keep it in. The sponges seems good quality and were available to buy separately as a pack of 3 for £1.

Well, you can't go wrong for £1. Certainly worth a try!

DIY Wedding decorations: Fabric pom pom tutorial

As you all know, I'm planning to get married sometime next year or so and have been thinking about how I can include some of my own little handmade touches. Whilst I was trying to sleep (and failing) it occurred to me that my tissue paper pom poms could easily be made out of fabric. So I tried it. And it worked beautifully!

I've already done a tutorial for the tissue paper version which you can find under the tutorials button but in case you need a refresher, here's what you do!

1) Cut out some squares of your chosen fabric. I roughly cut 8 out of an old Primark dress! It's helpful to use a material that shows the print on both sides and is fairly soft.

2) Concertina the fabric and tie some ribbon (or wire) around the middle to keep it in place.

3) You need to trim the ends with sharp fabric scissors to make petal shapes. Just round off the corners into a semi circle.

4) Time to "peel the petals!" This is sooo much easier with fabric than it is with tissue paper as you don't have to worry about the fabric ripping! Lift each layer and space them out to make a 3d shape.

5) Hang it up and admire it! If you want to use them for a wedding, match your fabric colours to your chosen wedding colour. I think it would probably look amazing to make several of different sizes and then tie them along some ribbon to make fabric pom pom bunting!

The Olympic Games, London, 2012

Hands up if you are watching the opening ceremony right now and feeling a little bit patriotic?
I have to say, normally I HATE sport with a passion but I will be watching the Olympics because it's different.

I thought I wasn't that bothered about the whole thing....I couldn't care less about the torch running up and down the streets of the U.K. However, waiting for the opening ceremony to start, I felt a fizzle of excitement and anticipation! (Fizzle? Really?)

As I write this, a giant, cement chimney is rising out of the floor of the stadium to signify the industrial revolution. It's pretty compelling stuff! There is a strange, long haired lady banging away at some drums and it's all a little bit weird and a little bit Eurovision.....

But, it's different and it's quirky and altogether British. And I'm proud.

How to dye your hair at home - tips and tricks

I would like to consider myself something of an expert when it comes to diy hair dyeing. I have been dyeing my hair at home since I was 14 years old - although back then, my mum helped me!

I've had all sorts of colours - reds, pink, blond, browns, blue, purple, ginger (by mistake).....you name it, I've probably tried it.

I thought I'd share with you some of the things I've learnt along the way!

How to do it well:

1) If possible, get someone to help. Make sure it's someone you trust though! It can be tricky to do the back of your hair or to do highlights evenly when you can't see which bits have been covered.

2) Don't go too cheap or too light. I have a prime example of this for you with some photographic evidence!!

Bad, ginger highlights!

This was my hair yesterday. It doesn't look too bad in the photo but believe me, it was uneven and it was ginger. The usual kit I use is only £5 and is the Garnier Multi Lights kit for brown hair. Unfortunately, I can't find this product any more so I bought a kit from Wilkinson's (of all places) for £2. It was supposed to be for brown hair. It was awful.

It's a good idea to only go one or two shades lighter or darker than your natural colour. You don't want your hair to look like it doesn't match your eyebrows!

3) It's not the end of the world if the colour goes wrong! Read the instructions and you will probably find that you can dye another colour over the top. That's what I did.

I used this:

Garnier Nutrisse in 4.3 Dark golden brown

It mostly worked. My hair now is a little bit red and a bit darker than I would have liked - meaning I won't be able to use my Headkandy hot toffee hair extensions for a while. Oh well.

My hair now:

I took this outside for a more realistic colour match..

4) Look for a dye that has a good conditioner in the box. Dyeing your hair is not good for it! And neither is bleaching....I like the Garnier Nutrisse products because you get a little bottle of conditioner that does 3 washes. It smells a bit fruity but I can live with that.

5) Wipe off any spills IMMEDIATELY from yourself and surfaces. You can put Vaseline around your hair line if you are using strong coloured dyes like the Directions range. I had a bad incident in my uni halls where the shower cubicle got stained red. (I still got my deposit back though - everyone was using the same dye so every body's showers probably looked the same!)

6) Take a risk! Most products these days are designed to be super easy to use by yourself. There are loads of crazy colours available or you can try dip dyeing (ombre) to get a faded look. Don't feel like you have to pay a fortune at a salon to get some colour in your hair.

I hope that helps all you virgin hair dye types! Any other questions, drop me a line!

A perfect summer day....

The weather had been so bad before this week that I didn't think I would be writing a post like this! However, the sun has been shining since Sunday and Tuesday had all the makings of a perfect summer's day.

The boyfriend (sorry, fiance!) and I went to Longdown Dairy Farm in the New Forest and had a lovely couple of hours. I got to hold a cute chick and a fluffy little duckling. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to sneak them out in my handbag. Sad times. Apparently, I have enough pets already. I disagree.....

Longdown Dairy Farm and Lyndhurst

Then, we went to Lyndhurst for a quick look around the shops. They had bunting hanging above the high street which made me smile :)

It was still only about 3pm so we headed into town where I found a hairdressers who would cut and blow dry my hair for £15. Bargain! I was pretty happy with the results - I only needed a trim anyway.

On the way home, we stopped and bought some charcoal and food and went back for the first bbq of the year! We had sausages, burgers and toasted marshmallows. Heaven.

All in all, a great day!

A fresh start

Evening! Please take a second away from your barbecues to view my latest going-ons!
The sun has miraculously made an appearance and the UK is going Mad For It! Seriously, any change in the weather and we don't know how to cope.....
I had a lovely day picking my new engagement ring on Tuesday. I might have told you that I bent my last one (sad face) as it was ridiculously delicate. I loved the design but needed something more practical that I could wear at work without worrying. This is engagement ring number 2:

It has a cluster of little diamonds in a white gold, flower setting. If you want to "steal my style" (who wouldn't?) then you can find it at Ernest Jones!

I spent Sunday selling at our tent show for work in some glorious sunshine. Unfortunately, I got a strange shaped patch of sunburn and a migraine to show for it! It was lovely to get out in the fresh air for the day and the field we set up in was right by the water.

Here's my weekend in a nut shell:

1) Beach at Queen Victoria Country Park 2) The Chapel 3) Cotswolds' boys
4) Didn't need my Hunters in the sun! 4) First ice cream of the summer 5) Working my uniform
6) Fields of tents 7) My favourite mugs (random!) 8) A dream day at work

As you can see, my job can be pretty cushy at times!

If you want to follow me and my epic adventures then you can find me at:
Twitter - @girlfrommars79
Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/girlfrommars79/ 
Instagram - probably at girlfrommars79 - I don't know how Instagram works yet!

Have a lovely, sun filled week - I will be!

My first Instagram post!

This is a monumental day. I am now officially a "proper" blogger. I have Instagram on my new phone and (with a little help) I'm about to upload my photos in a swanky little grid. Hopefully.

Suh-weet! From left to right, top to bottom:
1) Collecting brooches for my wedding brooch bouquet 2) Engagement cards 3) Self portrait
4) Self portrait with leggings 5) Jake! 6) Tall tea and muffins in Starbucks (my happy place)
5) Lunch of champions 6) Martin on his phone 7) Starting a photo album.

In case you suck at technology like me, check out Picmonkey - it's a free photo editing suite (sweet!) that allows you to create collages and do fun things like this:

This was my lunch today. I have PMT. When I have PMT (in shouty letters) I make bad decisions. The Pot Noodle was one of those bad decisions! But it was tasty.

That's about all I've been up to. I started cleaning my decking today....but it rained. Again.

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, the rain in England is less selective.