Saturday 31 December 2011

2011: Looking Back....

Like many people (I'm sure you've noticed lots of similar blog posts) I find New Years Eve a great time for reflecting on how my year has gone, and I thought I'd share my little review of 2011 with you :)

At the beginning of the year I'd just got back from travelling around Australia, Fiji and New Zealand- so I spent the first several weeks getting used to cold weather and being back at home. Once I'd settled in I got back to helping at my Brownie group, looking frantically for a job and doing the cooking and cleaning at home- back down to earth with a bump really!

Sometime around March/ April I really got into nail art, and wearing make up a lot more regularly (to be honest I'm not sure why) and reading tonnes more blogs (though I've been a fan of youtube and blogs for at least 3 years) so after much thought and indecision I finally started my own blog in June (the 13th to be exact, a post on chocolate brownies and mango cupcakes)




I think it took me a while to get into the swing of things, but I did instantly love blogging (as I thought I would) and I've posted almost every day since! I wish I'd noted down GFC follower landmarks (simply because I like to look back on things like that), but I know I'd reached 40 followers around October sometime, and today there are 76 lovely people who care about what I ramble on about every day! (A HUGE thank you to each and every one of you, it really means a lot to me :) )


My top three posts of this year (by quite a margin actually) are:

My DIY Lip Scrub 'recipe'



An e.l.f. Nail Polish Review
and my MUA Heaven and Earth Palette Review



Another big landmark for me was creating 52 Week Nail Challenge at the end of September; I thought up a different nail art theme each week for a whole year (and I'm already 1/4 of the way through!!!) and I'm so so so happy that the idea has spread and so many bloggers and nail art enthusiasts have taken up the challenge :) If you haven't thought about doing it, you should! It really is so much fun!


So now it's the end of 2011 and overall I've had a pretty good year- I love my blog, and I really love the blogging community :)

Lets hope 2012 will be just as good (or hopefully, even better!) See you in 2012 :)


                                                                                                                    xGretalRabbitx

Friday 30 December 2011

(my sisters) Nail of the Day: Starkid nails!

As my sister has been home for the holidays, she's been spending a lot of time painting her nails in some intricate designs (I'm rather jealous, she's way better with nail art brushes than I am!) Today she's taking over my blog with a guest post about her starkid themed nails (don't worry if you have no clue what starkid is, she will hopefully explain!) And if you really couldn't care less about a 14 year olds obsession, at least you can appreciate the nail art :) I'm sorry she didn't post which polishes were what- she very helpfully can't remember! But I'm pretty sure she used Models Own Snow White, Revlon Peach Smoothie and e.l.f. Light Red and Black (yep, all my polishes...)

       
                                                                                                               xGretalRabbitx


Hi I'm Amy and I'm Louise's sister. I'm 14 and I love Starkid. Now you may be wondering what starkid is well its a group of people who have made several musicals. They became famous by doing a musical based on Harry Potter- they posted it on YouTube and now it has over 7 million views. They then went on to to make A Very Potter Sequel, starship and Me and my dick all of which became very popular musicals and spaceship has also been up for some awards.





Here are some close up pictures of my nails. 



On the thumb I did Redvines. Redvines are an American sweet and in a very potter sequel Ron (Joey Richter) eats them and makes up a quote about them.



On this finger I did pink sunglasses. Darren Criss (also another Starkid, and Blaine in Glee) is famous for his pink sunglasses.



On my middle finger I did Joey Richter wearing his blue headband. He wore this headband during a very potter sequel in order to keep on his wig. He also wore it in me and my dick and starship because it became so popular.


  
On this nail I did Bug from starship. Bug is a bug who wants to become a starship ranger.



On my little finger I did the dick from me and my dick. Dick is played by Joe walker and he plays Joey Richters Dick.


So thank you for reading I hope you liked my Starkid nails and I hope you will go and watch some starkid musicals. If you like starkid please could you like my facebook page :)

Thanks for reading :) Amy

Thursday 29 December 2011

Challenge Week 13: New Years!!!

I'm 1/4 of the way through the 52 Week Challenge! Time is flying, and this weeks theme is New Years Eve- an occasion that always makes me think of fireworks :) I was planning to attempt something complicated to recreated actual fireworks, but I really really wanted to try out two of my new polishes (shown yesterday) so I did a simpler and more abstract firework look :)







I used my new e.l.f. Black polish (e.l.f. haul coming soon!) as a base, then added lots of sparkles over the top- the meteor shower polish has awesome strings of holographic glitter which does actually remind me of fireworks :) I also used my new flaky polish on my thumb, it's not so 'firework-esque' but I love it anyway! I also added the Sparkle Top Coat to my thumb and ring fingers (because why the heck not!?)


e.l.f. Black, Collection 2000 Sparkle Top Coat, Meteorites Meteor Shower,
Andrea Fullerton Gemstone Overcoat (flaky)


Here's a close-up of my thumb, I have black, with a layer of Gemstone Overcoat then a layer of Sparkle Top Coat. You can see the duo chrome of the flaky a little better in this picture:




And I know this is blurry (like stupidly blurry) but look how shiny and beautiful the meteor shower polish is!!!




What are you doing with your nails for new years? Any exciting parties to go to? I think I'll be home alone (which is good because I can watch, eat and drink what I want- and I don't have to dress up!)



                                                                                              xGretalRabbitx

Wednesday 28 December 2011

What I Got For Christmas :)

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was far too busy lazing around watching TV and eating Christmassy food :p So I thought I'd share the lovely gifts I received for Christmas this year- there's quite a lot of chocolate, nail polish (all picked by me actually) as well as some traditional socks and pjs :)

Now I can take cupcakes anywhere I go! :)

More yummy Hummingbird recipes!

A mug wearing a woolly jumper!

This makes my brain hurt.... even WITH the instructions...

I can't wait to string this together :)

Robin pattern PJs :)

Really long and cosy socks :)

This smells soooo good :)


I've raved about this mask before- Love it!
  
A lovely haircare set :)
 
 
M&S Rainbow!!!

Meteorite Meteor shower

A flakie top coat!!!! :)
 





















I also got quite a lot more chocolate (quality street, celebrations, toblerone) that I didn't photograph, and now I'm really glad I didn't because it's taken me literally 2 hours just to put these pictures into a post- blogger is not my friend tonight, I've been getting rather annoyed with it!

I'm sure you'll see all of my new skincare and nail polishes in reviews and NOTD posts very soon, I'm very excited to try them all out!

What lovely gifts did you get for Christmas this year? I hope you're all enjoying the festive season still :)


                                                                                 xGretalRabbitx

Monday 26 December 2011

Boxing day sales tips!

As you read this I'll be on my way to visit family for our traditional boxing day get together but I know a lot of you will be hitting the sales, and if not today sometime this week (I know I will be!) - so I thought I'd write up a quick post sharing a few tips for Christmas sales shopping :)

1) Check online before you head out- that way you can get a good idea of which places are most worth a visit plus you might find things are even cheaper online.

Some shops generally have better sales than others- Next is notorious for it's crazy sales prices, and equally crazy queues and busy stores (as early as 6am), Boots always have their Christmas gift sets on sale and most big department stores have at least 50% off :) Also check out Amazon and asos (and everywhere else) online. Pretty much every store will have some kind of discount!


2) Make an action plan- especially if you're venturing out today! The shops will most likely be super busy so decide which shops you definitely want to go to and get there first (you always end up spending way longer than you think in each shop) and you don't want to run out of time or miss out on things you wanted because you saved that shop til last!


3) Buy things ready for next Christmas- shops don't want to store there leftover wrapping paper/ greetings cards/ tree decorations until next year so they're sold off super cheap! As they don't really go 'out of fashion'  or go out of date so no one will ever know...


4) Look out for potential gifts- if you keep a look out for things you can give as gifts (for birthdays etc) throughout the year you can get really great deals, and store them until needed- again, no one will ever know! And if something comes in Christmassy packaging you can always repackage it yourself.


5) Wear comfy clothing! There is nothing worse than trudging around shops with sore feet and a sweaty body; wear easy-to-remove layers and really comfy shoes :) Also, take water and snacks (or is it just me that gets grumpy way too fast without food?)


6) Remember you might not be able to return sales items- make sure it fits/ works/ is complete etc. before you purchase, don't be put off by the queues make sure you try things on :)

7) Have fun getting some bargains- and make sure you let me know what you get! :)


 Happy Boxing Day!
                                                                                            xGretalRabbitx

Sunday 25 December 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I hope you are all enjoying your festivities today- indulged in too much Christmas dinner, eaten lots of chocolate and ripped open lots of lovely gifts and probably had one too many drinks... :) I'll hopefully be very busy today- doing all of the aforementioned things- so here are a few festive pictures of my tree! Merry Christmas, I hope you are all having lovely days :)





The robin on the left is one I made a couple of weeks ago at my Brownie craft day,
and the one on the right I made when I was a Brownie- about 15 years ago!



Enjoy the rest of your day :) And the Doctor Who Christmas Special!!!



                                                                                                     xGretalRabbitx

Saturday 24 December 2011

Icing the Christmas Cake! :)

Well hopefully you marzipaned your cake yesterday, so by tonight it will have dried out enough for the icing to be placed on top :) I haven't bothered to photograph the steps, because they are very very simple, and very similar to those in yesterdays marzipan post! Just roll out the icing (on an icing sugared surface) and press it on to the cake. Then Amy and I used the leftover icing to decorate the top with a little 'army of snowmen' and I made a tree out of marzipan :)







Have you decorated a Christmas cake this year? I can't wait to cut it tomorrow- just 2 hours until Christmas!!!



                                                                                                         xGretalRabbitx

(my sisters) Nail of the Day: Warbler nails!

My sister is currently very obsessed with Glee and Darren Criss (Blaine in glee)- it's all she ever talks about, bloody 14 year olds... so for her most recent nail art attempt she decided to paint her nails in Warbler uniform (the boys school glee club) design- like this:


Darren Criss...


She saw a couple of similar nail art designs, so she used those as inspiration, and got to work with some polish- here are her lovely nails:






She used e.l.f. Light Red as a base, and a really old polish (called Black Radiance in Gimmie Blue) for the stripes- with a nail art brush. Then the shirt on the thumb was Models Own Snow White, and lots more work with several nail art brushes, both small and long.

Are you a fan of Glee? I really loved this years Christmas special, it was so festive and happy- I may watch it again tonight :)



                                                                                          xGretalRabbitx

p.s. Just one sleep until Christmas!!!!!!