nail polish storage

Hi lovelies :)

On one of my posts last week, I mentioned that I store all of my nail polishes in little rack and a few people commented and emailed me saying that they'd like to see it. So, here you are!

I'm probably one of the biggest nail polish addicts you'll ever meet. This is just a small fraction of my collection which I display on my chest of drawers in my bedroom. Who ever invented nail polishes HAS to be a genius! Every Friday when I come home from school, the first thing I do is paint my nails. That sounds unbelievably sad, but it's true! I absolutely hate it when they're not painted, and if one gets chipped I almost have a little heart attack!

TOP ROW LEFT - RIGHT: Rio Nail art pen in Yellow, Rio Nail art pen in Orange, Rio Nail art pen in Purple, Rio Nail art pen in Red, Rio Nail art pen in black, Barry M in Raspberry, Barry M in Mint Green, Barry M in Teal,  Barry M in Vivid Purple,  Barry M in Grey and finally  Barry M in Magnetic Dark Silver.

MIDDLE ROW LEFT - RIGHT: Barry M in Matt White, Barry M in Mushroom, Barry M in Berry I/C, Barry M in Foil, Barry M in Coral, Natural Collection in Hibiscus, Barry M in Black, Barry M in Dusky Mauve, Barry M in Halloween Web Effects, Barry M in Pink Flamingo and Barry M in Red Glitter.

BOTTOM ROW LEFT - RIGHT: Nails Inc in Elizabeth Street, Elegant Touch French Manicure in Pink, Elegant Touch French Manicure in White, Elegant Touch French Manicure in Clear, Models Own in Nude Beige, Models Own Hedkandi Hedonist, Models Own in Red Alert, Models Own in Snowflake, Models Own in Dream Stream, George in Nightmare.

As you can tell, I have a lot of Barry M! I've been collecting Barry M nail polishes for about 2 years, and I still have more inside my draws! I've began collecting Models Own nail polishes so I have loads more!

I bought these racks from eBay but you can buy similar ones from Amazon for cheaper here. I only noticed they were cheaper after they got delivered! Each rack holds about 30 nail polishes each  and they're so good for displaying.

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favourite combinations: eyes

Hi lovelies! Today is the last post I'll do in the 'favourite combination' series, but don't worry as I've saved the best til last! I use this little combination almost everyday, if I'm not at school because school won't let me wear that much makeup. :'(

This little combo includes a Jerome Alexander black lash extending mascara, Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl waterproof eyeliner, MUA eye shadow in shade 3 - pearl and my small Jerome Alexander eyeshadow brush. 

My mum absolutely adores the Jerome Alexander mineral powder and the mascara which I use daily comes along with the pack called Magic Minerals. I think it's about £20 for the full pack which includes this AMAZING mascara, a blush brush (which is equally as amazing), and the mineral powder which I haven't even had a sniff of because my mum loves it so much! She barely lets it out of her sight - there's a tin of it in her handbag, in her bedroom and in her little makeup bag. She's so obsessed. The mascara is easy to apply, and leaves no clumps whatsoever, which is always a main factor of a good mascara! I use two coats to give a fuller effect, but one looks fine too.

The Jerome Alexander eyeshadow brush was something I also bought a few months ago and (not so) surprisingly found it lurking in the bottom of my mum's makeup bag! It's easy to clean, the bristles never fall out and it's really smooth. It also picks up a lot of product but you can tap the excess off easily.

I also use the Soap and Glory Smoulder Kohl eyeliner in just a plain black. It's honestly the best pencil liners I've come across with regards to pigmentation and slidability (if that makes sense!). It glides on like a dream. So creamy, pigmented and doesn't take long to have a nice, smooth line.

And finally we have just a MUA eyeshadow. I'm sure you'll have seen hundreds of people rave about these and for only £1 I'd really recommend stocking up! They're a really good handy product to have, which gives nice colour if you're in a rush. Obviously, they're not as good of a quality as high-end brands but they do the job and do it well.

Hope you enjoyed reading this little series as much as I've enjoyed writing it! 

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favourite combinations: face

The 3 products below are probably my most used make-up combination. I did a separate full review on the Wake Me Up foundation here, so if you want to read that just click the link! I'm really enjoying doing these 'favourite combination' posts, and I might even just shorten it to 'fav combos' because it takes me so long to type it all out!

I will apologize in advance for the crappy photo today. My camera is playing up on my phone and I don't have enough money to go and buy a new camera. I'm hoping to change the photo when it decides to work because I know it's not the best, but it's the best I could do! 

I bought the Stay Matte powder by Rimmel such a long time ago and it just sunk to the bottom of my makeup draw and never got used. I was cleaning out the draws in my room a few months ago and gave this another try, and oh my god it's honestly the best powder I've ever used. It stops your face becoming oily and shiny through the foundation and sets it well. I use just a plain simple blush brush (try saying that with a mouthful!) and it evens out my skin tone amazingly. 100% recommendable!

The next product is the Natural Collection concealer in Fair. It's an amazing price at £1.99 and I even think you can get any 3 items for £1 on the stand! They have nail polishes, foundations, concealers and bronzers. I've only ever tried the concealer and 2 of the nail polishes with my favourite being Hibiscus. Anyway, that's getting off the topic slightly. So, it covers any blemishes, imperfections and/or spots and keeps them invisible for the rest of the day. Again, very recommendable!

I won't babble too much about the foundation because I've reviewed it here, but it gives a very even coverage. Unfortunately it only has 6 shades which is the only downside to this product.

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life lately #3

Sledging with my bestie // fav combos: nails // a little selfie // fav combos: lips // i love yankee candles so much. my favs // new book! john green is such an amazing author // we finally got snow! // my crazy aunty found out she's going to be a grandma!! ♥ // walking to school 

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favourite combinations: lips

Hello! Welcome to part 2 of the 'favourite combinations' series. This post features my best 2 lip products: a lip scrub and a lipstick. I'm not one to wear bright lip colours as I feel like they don't really suit me, so I tend to sway towards lighter pinky, nude colours.

 The 2 lip products that I love together is the Lush bubblegum lip scrub which I did a review on last week and the Topshop lipstick in Innocent. I won't babble on too much about the lip scrub but it's a very very good lip exfoliator which takes off all dead skin but tastes and smells gorgeous. If you want to read the full review, you can read it here.

I was a little hesitant to buy any of the range of makeup that Topshop sells because I've seen a few posts which don't like it but others who do. I took the plunge and splashed out only £8 for a very good quality lipstick. Bargain! It's a pinky/light red colour which really moisturises the lips after using the lip scrub. It's creamy, pigmented and has a very good staying power. The packaging is sleek and simple, and I've been using it quite a lot recently!

Have you tried the Topshop makeup range? What do you think? 

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favourite combinations: nails

Hi! So I just got a complete amazing brainwave which includes a series of posts over the next couple of days. Ok, so I'm going to do a few posts on my favourite combinations, so expect quite a few posts with 'favourite combinations:' in the title! I've got a few little ideas of combinations I'd like to blog about to show you all of my favourite colours, products and brands but to make sure it's not all crammed into one humongous post, I'll break it up into little readable sections so I can't bore you to death. As you can tell, this post is about my favourite nail combination. This is my ultimate best best best combination!

I love this combination because I think the colours are so good at contrasting and giving an unusual effect. They're 2 polishes are from Barry M in the colours Pink Flamingo and Foil. The photo shows the polish in 2 thin coats, covered with a thin layer of a plain clear coat. The pink is a typical neon pink perfect for summer/spring. I actually might say this is one of my favourites in my ever growing nail polish collection! I apply 2 or 3 coats of this on every nail except from my ring finger.

I put the polish called Foil on my ring finger, but the only thing I hate about this polish is that the bottle doesn't have a front printed sticker on the bottle which says the brand and the nail paint :(. I store all of my nail polishes in racks which holds about 30 in each, but this has to go at the back because I have a little OCD and all of the bottles have to have the little stickers at the front! If you'd like to see a post on how I store my nail polish, just comment and I'll try to do it soon if anybody's interested!

So, number 1 out of my little series is done! Stay tuned to see another of my favourite combinations :)

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lush lip scrubs

I love Lush. Their products never fail to impress - whether that be magical colours in the bath, or working wonders on my skin. I could spend hours browsing through everything in the shop, spending hundreds of pounds worth of bath bombs, facial cleansers or shower gels. The 2 latest products added to my little Lush collection are these two little beauties - the bubblegum and sweet lips lip scrub.

The packaging for these are so cute - little tiny pots filled with what looks like coloured sugar. The thing I love most about Lush is that they have little stickers with cartoon photos of their staff who made it and I think this is a lovely little way to show that they really value their staff. I also love the writing they use on the packet... Is that really weird? The sugar crystals in these are really fine, which makes it not too harsh on your lips. The results are almost instant - just rub it on, lick it off and voila, you have nice soft lips!

The bubblegum scrub was the first one I tried and it's definitely my favourite out of the two. I initially bought it for 2 shallow reasons - the colour and the smell. It smells like a big stick of candyfloss mixed with that Hubba Bubba pink chewing gum. I leaves my lips smelling and feeling gorgeous!

After not being satisfied with only having 1 pot of this scrub, I had to go back for more. This time I got the Sweet Lips flavour which smells like chocolate. Although I am a HUGE chocoholic, I'm not too keen on the smell or the taste. It's too sickly for me, but I still continue to use it and I keep this one in my bag just incase of an emergency! Anyway, it still leaves your lips feeling very soft.

Overall I would definitely recommend these scrubs, especially the bubblegum smelling one! I'm hoping to extend my collection and get the Mint Julips. Although they're a little pricey at about £5.25, they're sooo good and smell lush too! (no pun intended...)

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life lately #2

Instagram username - @elisedopsonblog

Costa hot chocolate // New blog layout // 100 FOLLOWERS! Ahhh thank you all so so much!! // I found my old Nintendo haha // I hate Chemistry revision // Milkybar KFC Krushems are the best // I LOVE KANYE xxx // Current read // Pizza

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versatile blogger award

How cold has it been this week?! Living up North has left me craving deep snow throughout this week, and seeing all of the lovely photos people have posted of their streets covered in a deep covering of snow has made me sad. The only snow I've had this week is a slight dusting of snow- and by that I mean 1mm thick sprinkles of icing sugar. Any way, I logged on yesterday and found I'd been nominated for the versatile blogger award again! I was nominated a bit ago by Suzie at MissBeautyBits and completely forgot about publishing it after I was half way through! I've been nominated again by Rebecca at Belle Glamour so a huge huge thank you to both of you! 

 - Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the award who are relatively new to blogging

- Let them know you have nominated this

- Share seven random facts about yourself

- Thank the blogger who has nominated you

- Add the Versatile Blogger Award Picture to your post

So, a few random facts about myself.

1. I learnt to drive my dad's car when I was 13.

2. I'm a really shy person and I don't speak to people a lot.

3. I just got Tumblr! 

4. I once completely changed my layout 4 times in a week.

5. I love camping and the outdoors.

6. I own about 200 nail polishes and I can't go shopping without buying one... Whoops.

7. Winter is my favourite season.

And finally I nomiate: 

Niamh from Floral Friendship

Imogen from Eloquence and Flair

Ellie at The Beauty Cave

There's some lovely blogs for you to read, and how hard is it to find a nice blog who hasn't been nominated for this before?!

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soap and glory sugar crush

I love Soap and Glory. This little pot of heaven has been sitting in my 'must review' box for what seems like forever, and now it's finally photographed so I can finally start using it again! Yay :)

I read this first a few months ago on Zoella's blog or YouTube channel and she kept saying how nice it smells, so the first thing I did when I walked in Boots was run right up to this, open the first one I saw and took a deeeeep sniff. It smells so good! I sometimes even just walk into the bathroom, smell this and walk out again. It smells like lime, brown sugar and it's very very citrusy.

You only need to use a small amount of this because a little does really go a long way. It is very gritty without being sore and my legs feel so much softer after I've got out of the bath and used this. I was surprised at how big the tub actually is and it's an AMAZING price for a huge tub of scrub that will last me ages!

I will definitely be repurchasing this! I can't recommend this highly enough because for only £8 you get a huge tub.

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my diet / exercise

Hello there :) I was asked on the #bbloggers chat last night to do a post on how I keep healthy, lose weight, exercise, etc. I've been debating whether to do this or not because it's more personal than some of my other things on here so if this does get posted, please be nice! To be completely honest, I can 100% guarantee I'm not the most healthiest person you will ever meet. Yes, I eat chocolate. Yes, I eat fast-foods, and yes, I do have a love affair with sweets. (Especially rhubarbs and custards! Yum.)

Image credit

Since the New Year I've started to cut down on the amount of chocolate, fizzy drinks and sweets I eat. I've also learnt to keep an eye on my calorie intake. To do this I use the app on my phone called My Fitness Pal - it's free and it's amazing. It gives you a certain amount of calories as a target for the day depending on your weight, height, and how much weight you want to lose per week. Everybody in my house now has an account! It helps me keep motivated.

Image credit

My day-to-day routine usually consists of Weetabix with a banana or a piece of fruit, then I wait right up until lunch where on a school day I have a sandwich on brown bread and another piece of fruit. This keeps me full right up until tea-time where I just have a normal meal, such as baked potato, chilli and rice, steak, fish and potatoes, etc. If I get hungry, instead of eating junk I try to eat a piece of fruit or some vegetables just for snacking on because I try to get my 5-a-day.

I try to go to the local gym 2-3 times a week and the other days I alternate with going for a quick 10 minute power walk. I let myself have a treat like a little chocolate bar on a Sunday, well, just to lighten the mood of Sundays!

I think that's about it! Sorry if it's not as helpful as you might've expected, but if you have any questions or would like to know anything else, comment below or email me on elisedopsonblog@gmail.com and I'll try to answer!

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life lately

Starbucks frappuchino's are gorgeous // The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - current read. Such a good book and Charlie is so cute! // I can't walk past Pets at Home without looking at the baby bearded dragons // countryside walks // Starbucks, again! // Lush snow fairy shower gel // (500) Days of Summer. My favourite film in the whole entire world // Models Own - Dream Stream // Well deserved cup of tea after exams!

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lush father christmas

I love bath bombs. I have a huge collection and they're what I ask for every birthday / Christmas. I sit there completely fascinated by them and the gorgeous colours that fill the water with just one little fizzy ball. If you ready my blog regularly you'll have noticed my growing obsession with products from Lush. I bought this quite long ago and completely forgotten about it. I put it in my wardrobe and for about 2 months I've been opening it to the lovely smell of this bath bomb and I've been wondering what it was! Anyway, I was clearing out old clothes and found this - the source of the smell that seems to be haunting me!

I initially bought this Father Christmas bath bomb as a spur-of-the-moment thing (happens all of the time in Lush!). It smells really nice and I thought it would turn my bath water a lovely pink colour. When I dropped it in my bath I thought it'd become mouldy because it came out bright green! I quickly browse a few blogs with reviews of this and found out it was supposed to be green - panic over!

You can't really see clearly here but it contains little red glitter bits which look really weird when they're floating on the top of the water. It's very festive - the tub was filled with green water and little red glitters and swirls just laying on the top. I found it really left my skin smelling and feeling very nice and soft. I found it smelling very citrusy and quite strong but it is gorgeous! Just like the Snow Fairy shower gel, this beauty is only available  at Christmas. :( Next time, grab one whilst you can!

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weekday wishlist

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

001. A girl can never have too many purses. This one from River Island is so pretty.

002. Good Morning Hope by Essie is such a gorgeous pale pink colour.

003. Very cute and pretty gold charmed bracelet. 

004. This gorgeous little tea light holder will be perfect for when I get my bedroom redecorated. It will be accompanied by my beloved Baby Powder Yankee Candle tea light!

005. I love the smell of this and the aroma of Yankee Candles actually is so noticeable. It smells so fresh.

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update

Hellooo everybody, what a stressful week it's been! This week has been such a mad one. I've been revising for all 3 exams which I had this week - Maths, Biology and Chemistry. Who makes it acceptable to have exams the first week you're back into school, never mind the second day!

I've not been posting as much for the past couple of weeks because of all the revising and I've just been too busy to sit down and write for an hour. There's not enough time in the day, I tell you! When I have had a moment to sit down and chill out I've tried writing lots of posts but I feel like they're too rushed and I always seem to be getting writer's block. :( I don't want to write and publish a post to my blog if I'm not 100% happy with it.

So, this was basically just to say I'll almost certainly start writing more posts soon and I'll be giving my blog the love and attention it needs again! :)

Oh, one last thing - I'm also now on bloglovin'! If you have a bloglovin' account I'd be honoured if you give my follow button a little nudge :) Click here for a link to my account.

Have a lovely rest of your week!

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pretty little dove stones...

Today I took a lovely little walk around the reservoir on the edge of the Peak District - well, it wasn't so little because it was about 5 miles! Here's just a few photos I took :)