I Love Halloween!!

Normally on a Thursday I like to do my weekly reviews on products and such but as it's my favourite day of the year I thought I'd do a Halloween special post. The last four years on Halloween I've been at university, which meant dressing up, going to a club and having themed red drinks. I can remember each year like it was yesterday and they are within the best nights of my uni time. This years a bit different as most my friends are in the working world (that I haven't stepped into yet without lack of trying) it's a bit difficult to arrange a night out on a school night.

I love Halloween, it's my favourite time of year. I'm not sure why I love it I just do. I think it could be because it's like officially Autumn where the leaves have turned colours but still on the trees and it's sunny but you need coat. It's like the comfy season and who doesn't like be comfy!

Even though I haven't dressed up I've still partaken in the Halloween traditions, which is what I'm going to share with you. Heres what I got up to...

 Pumpkin carving.

I named him Godfrey.

 Pumpkin soup making. For the soup I used a recipe from BBC Good Food (here) although I added some cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper then replaced the double cream with creme fraiche.

I wanted to bake some Halloween treats but with dieting and all I made some cute little banana ghosts!

If I wasn't going to be dressing up I was definitely painting my nails at least! I went with this bright orange with very fine glitter from 'Sinful Colors' in Courtney orange. Halloween nails aren't complete without a creepy cobweb, it's a little messy but I like it.

I'm still gutted I'm not dressing up but I've had a great day and so excited that Halloween is on a Friday next year!

Heres some snaps from my previous Halloweens.

What did you get up to for Halloween? Do you love it or hate it?

The Autumn Tag

Hey Guys,

I haven't technically been tagged in this but I couldn't resist and thought it would be fun :)

1. Favourite thing about Autumn? 

My favourite thing has to be Halloween. I love Halloween! I’m gutted I’ve finished uni and not able to go out on a weekday all dressed up. I love it! Also the fact I can get my onesie back out for the chilly Sunday afternoons.

2. Favourite drink? 

My favourite drink always used be hazelnut lattes from Costa but I’ve started drinking them all through the year so it doesn’t count as much. In that case it has to the ever so classy pint of Strongbow..I know :/.. thing is through summer I have the fruity ciders so autumn it’s back to my trusty favourite.

3. Favourite scent/candle? 

I’m not a big one for candles or scent burning but a smell that marks the return of autumn has to be the classic Sunday roast with roast potatoes smell! Failing that it would be cinnamon and spicy scents.  

4. Best lipstick? 

Hmm best lipstick that’s tricky. Mine is between Rimmel Kate Moss Kiss of life ‘111’ which is a real bright red or Rimmel lasting finish Coral in Gold which is a shimmery coral orange.

5. Go to moisturiser? 

Mine is Nivea daily essentials light moisturising day cream.

6. Go to colours for the eyes? 

In September I love the start of using more reddy autumny browns and my favourite so far is Maybelline 24hr Colour tattoo in ‘On and On Bronze’ and a colour from my Beauty Uk eye shadow palette called no.7-naked, the colour I like is a glittery red bronze.

7. Favourite music or band/singer to listen to? 

Hmm I’m not really sure what my favourite is but when the weather gets darker I tend to listen to more indie bands rather than pop. Not sure why.

8. Favourite outfit to wear (i.e. boots & a scarf combo)? 

I love being able to wear tights, cardigans, jumpers and especially getting my UGGs out of hibernation. I also love wearing my snood my mum knitted for me!

9. Autumn treat? 

My autumn treats are Halloween treats, when you get the fun sized chewy sweets and like parma violets and double lollies. Hmm sweets. 

10. Favourite place to be? 

I’ve got two. The first is a bit strange and a little depressing and needs some explaining so.. Near where I live we have a man made beach around a pond called ‘Frensham Ponds’ and I really like going there when it’s a bit dark and cold because it’s so peaceful and calm yet quite lonely and miserable. I don’t know it’s a place I always remember as being my thinking space to get perspective and inspiration…deep I know. 

The other is a pub in Alton it’s so cosy when they have the log fire going you have a pint of cider great company, just love it.

Storage Sunday: Hair

Hey Guys, 

It's the third week of me showing you how I store all my beauty products. Last week was nails and this week I present my hair storage, mine is split into three sections (almost): electrical, everyday and open spare/sporadic use. 

Lets start with everyday use, if you've read my make-up storage you'd know I have a dressing table and on top I keep my make-up on one side (if you haven't you can read it here). On the other side I keep my everyday hair bits. 

The products I keep out and use on a day to day basis are: hairspray, heat protection, leave-in conditioner and volume moose. I always without fail use heat protection and leave in after I wash my hair and before blowdrying. Then when I'm having straight hair or doing something special I tend to use the volume moose.

 Next to my everyday products I keep this little basket of all the little bits. In there I have hair ties, bobbie pins, tangle teezer, comb, circular brush (not sure of it's real name), one roller (just for my fringe really) and L'oreal serum (review coming soon!).

The second section is the electrical items, they just sit in a little thing underneath. Quite easy just my GHD dryer, GHD straighteners and my Babyliss curling wand. I really couldn't live without these!

Last but not least this draw contains all my extra products which are open and don't really get used that often.

Not many exciting things in just rollers, extra clips, oils, hair scissors and extra products. 

That's it, I hope you enjoyed this post and enjoying the series. I posted an OOTD today if you fancy a read and if you want to know what I've been up to recently i posted a 'catch up with me' post which you can find here.

Thank you all for your comments and follows on Bloglovin' I love finding new blogs and seeing what others think of the big wide beauty world :)

OOTD: The Tartan Jumper

Hey Everybody,

Hows everyone enjoying the extra hour in bed today?

I wanted to post this yesterday but my friends and I got very caught up with a conkers match, poker and trivial pursuits. I had such a great day, it was wet and windy so was nice to stay in, play some games and have a good catch up! Anyways heres my outfit of the day: the tartan jumper.

Jumper: Peacock £18

 Necklace: Present/ Rings: Pandora & Dorothy Perkins

Earrings: Peacocks £4

Lips: Rimmel Kate Moss 'Kiss of Life 111' & Bourjois colour boost 'Red Sunshine' 

Review Thursday: MUA Lipstick

Hey Guys, 

I can't believe it's Thursday already? I swear days are just flying by. Anyways today I'm going to give my review on the MUA lipsticks. I have three shades. 

I'll kick off with the packaging, I like it, it's very clean and sleek. I love the fact that it has the pots of colour at the bottom which is useable product, it also makes it easier to store and see what you have. The only downside is that they don't have names like most lippys, just numbers. I have (left to right) shade 15, shade 1 and shade 3. 

Onto the formula. These lipsticks are really creamy, I wouldn't say there matte but there not sheeny, just a really nice creamy texture which just glides on your lips. Although the pigment differs on shades. I find the dark colours give a much better coverage and last a lot longer than the paler colours. Originally I bought the light pink and bright/dark pink because I was trying out lipsticks and wanted like an everyday easy shade then a brighter colour to smarten up a look. 

The pale pink was such a disappointment it made my lips look all cracked and dry, which they weren't at the time, but I just though meh only cost a pound. Then when I used the brighter pink I was amazed with the quality I loved it, the colour is so bold and long lasting even with food and drink consumed, I'm talking like 7 hours! After this great result I went and bought a deep red, again for experimenting but I like it more than pricier drugstore brands. I'm quite fancying the bright orange in the collection. 

Quite a quick review today as theres not too much to say about these products. I would defiantly recommend them, they are perfect for chucking in your handbag and experimenting. You can pick them up in Superdrug but the website doesn't seem to have all the colours but you can still check them out here. Only a £1, yes one pound. Amazing. 

All that's left to say is the dark shades are brilliant but you should probably avoid the lighter colours :).

Hope this post comes in use to you. What do you guys thing of the MUA lipsticks I would love to here your opinions! 

Catch up with me!

Hey Everyone,

As I’ve been blogging for a couple of months now I though it would be nice to write a post about what’s going on in my life right now. I’ll warn you now this might be quite text heavy but I hope you enjoy it J

Lets start with jobs and careers; I finished university in June and have my graduation ceremony coming up in November. I am so excited to get all dressed up in my robes, see my uni friends, get my degree in paper form and celebrate with my closest family and friends. I am extra excited because my brother Andy is coming back from Oz (that's him below with a Koala!), after being away for like 2 years…buzzing. There is so much I have to look forward to in the next month and obviously I’m going to have to go shopping and buy a brand new outfit, shoes, lipstick and eyelashes. The works.

Something I didn’t anticipate when leaving university was how hard it would be to get a job! I really expected when I went to graduation I’d catch up with everyone and be like yeah I’m in a job I love and getting on my career ladder. That’s so not the case. Sadly I have had no luck through summer getting jobs because I didn’t have any ‘office’ experience or believe it or not I was over qualified. The vicious circle starts of oh you need experience for this job, but I can't get a job get experience because I don't have experience. Instead of dwelling of rejection I focused my energy on other things, which I'll come to later in this post.  Back to jobs, currently I am in an unpaid position, in an office, yay. Originally I was there to do marketing but things haven’t panned out like that, I am basically a personal assistant right now and getting things organised for the busy selling period. Although this isn’t what I expected I now have ‘office’ experience with high responsibility and a good reference. Silver lining. With my new found office experience I am back on the hunt for a job in my career line. I’m not giving up that easily and I’m sure something will come soon. One day. I hope.

As I mentioned before I have been focusing my energy on different things and my main concentration was on my weight. Through college and university my weight increased a lot and with the uni lifestyle I could never get back to what I was in like school. Even though I was still fairly big in school I was still happy and confident. This summer I really stripped back my diet and really got into exercising everyday, as I had the time with not working and all.  I took over all the cooking and food shopping at home so I could really control portion size, snacks in the house and create tasty low cal meals. I have learnt so much about food, portion control and my own personal strengths. I am now finally, after loosing a stone and a half, back to the weight I was in year 11, maybe even slimmer because my prom dress is a little loose. As you can imagine I am so chuffed with myself and have so much determination. I still have a way to go before my goal weight but I can’t wait for this time next year to see what my progress is.

Now the big things are out the way heres just a few small things that have happened to me recently:

  ->  I have now been driving for 5 years.

  ->   I’ve finally picked up my DSLR camera after 3 years of not taking pictures.

  -> Although fed up on the job front I am happier than I have been for a while with anxiety to a minimum :) 
  -> I'm going to see The Big Reunion in December with my friend Kirsty. So excited. 

I think that's about it for now, hope you've enjoyed catching up with me. If you fancy keeping up with my daily antics then follow me on Twitter @jenfarny or more beauty stuff follow me on Instagram @jenfarny. 

Storage Sunday: Nails

Hi Guys,

Last week saw my 'Storage Sunday' series kick off starting with make-up, this week it's nails. 

Although I have a lot of nail colours I try and keep them condensed and all my nails bits together. I store it all in one of my shelves in my wardrobe.  

At the back of this shelf is stuff I don't use very often like false nails, nail glue, spare clippers and intense pedicure stuff. The bottom pink box has my hair extensions in just because it was stackable. Then in the purple storage is my nail colours. 

 In the box I have all my colours, a nail fan, curial nail, a couple of files and two separators.

When I first started storing my varnishes like this I coded them all with those little red stickers you see but now I've changed it to just using a multi media marker..so much quicker. 

 In this cream tin with the little birdie I keep my ped egg, nail tools, nail files, nail wraps and stick ons. Then lined up next to it is my nail varnish removers and hand creams.

 That's it guys, not much to say about my nail storage as it's quite basic and tucked away. I would love to have something on the walls you know like they have in salons so all the colours are on show, but maybes that's for when I move out. One thing to mention in Primark nail files, I love em, they cost £1 and you get 4 or 6 I can't remember but you also get a little carrier.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post don't forget to follow me on Instagram where I'm doing Super Gorgeous October.

Mini Autumn Hall

Hey Guys,

I am currently really feeling the Autumn vibes. Getting home from work on a Friday night being able to chuck on your comfy jumper and snuggle up in bed with no set time you need to get out of it haha. Well I choose to get up Saturday and go shopping, I needed to go get my nails done anyways so I went to a small town close to me called Farnham. Now Farnham I'm pretty sure the town sees me coming and knows all the money I have will be spent in a very short time there. Well yeah that happened. 

Lets start with whats on my nails. Very Autumnal if I don't say so myself, I love the maroons and deep reds when it comes to October added with my love for orange in glitter form. 

 I'm sorry to say I don't know the colour because the stickers weren't on the bottom :(

Not to babble on, check out my Autumn buys! 

Lets start with Boots. I love Farnham Boots not sure why I just feel so relaxed, I know where everything is and the staff are super friendly. I only bought a couple of lipsticks and nail varnishes but I love them all.

Although these two lipsticks practically look the same there really not. First one I bought was a Revlon Lip Butter in Macaroon which is a nice deep dusty pink with small flicks of shimmer. The second is a Natural Collection Moisture Shine in Rose Bud which is deeper not so dusty pink but a hint of purple. 

Swatchy watchy: Top is Revlon/ Bottom is Natural Collection 

Next onto the nail varnishes. I am normally a bright pastel colour lover and not so much the darkish bright colours but when I saw these I feel in love big time! The first is like a burnt orange and the red is a ruby red. I love the Sinful Colour polishes, there so cheap and have a fab colour range but the official names for these are Courtney Orange and Sugar Sugar.

Next stop was Peacocks. Now don't underestimate Peacocks every now and again the have such lush stuff. The bits I picked up today I've had my eye on for a while but never purchased them. First up are these cute silver earrings, I especially love the little owls.

Second is this beaut tarten jumper. I love it, I really want to get a black skirt to wear underneath with its collar popping out paired with disco pants and black grungy boots. I think that would look so cute.

That's it guys everything I've bought hope you enjoyed this post, what's getting you into the Autumn mood? 

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the second instalment of Storage Sundays where I'm going to show you how I store my nail varnishes.