Pearls Before Beauty

30 days, 30 lipsticks. Day one, Mac Viva Glam Nicki.

2013-09-01T15:41:00.001-07:00

So this little series is inspired by Miss Budget Beauty, one of my favourite bloggers of the moment.
Basically there are thirty days of september, so every day I will be showcasing one of my lipsticks for you from my collection.

This was my first ever MAC lipstick purchase so to me it seems fitting for the first post. When I first bought this lipstick I loved it! I wore it to uni, to work, on nights out and now I'm struggling to think about when I last wore it. As you can see it is VERY bright, but still quite wearable on me. It's a beautiful coral-toned pink and should have made a really beautiful spring colour, but I wore it most last winter. It's a satin finish, so a little drying on the lips but not ridiculously drying, thank goodness. The great thing about the viva glam lipsticks is that the whole of the money you spend on it is donated straight to an AIDS charity, which is lovely.

MAC lipsticks are very pricey, but to me they are a treat and I don't regret buying this lipstick and I will hopefully start wearing it some more.

Hope you had a wonderful day

Nelly xxx

Birthday

2013-08-19T15:25:00.001-07:00

So today is my birthday and it has been SO amazing!

Here's the little story of it for you, the only negative of the story is that my parents camera was lost/stolen today so we lost all the pictures unfortunately. But I have my memories of today so that's all that matters!

My parents woke me up at 7.30 with a cup of tea in my Alton Towers smiler mug (pictured above). I went to Alton Towers three times this year already and it is one of my favourite places in the world. It's somewhere I associate with happiness and excitement, so you can imagine my delight this was my birthday treat today! To ride the smiler again and have a day in the magical atmosphere! Everyone came into my bedroom with my presents and cards and we all sat down armed with tea. By the way, I am staying at my parents house for my birthday!

There was cards sent to me by relatives and friends and my brother made me a lovely card with a limerick and my sister made me a beautiful patch work card. It then got down to present opening! I got some wonderful presents this year! My brother got me a bottle of southern comfort (my favourite alcoholic drink), my sister got me a lovely DVD and my parents lodger bought me Jo Malone Earl Grey and Cucumber perfume, which is amazingly lovely. My parents bought me an amazing birthday hamper full of all my fave foods! Think pop tarts, fanta, chocolate, Percy pigs etc, so naughty but so yummy! The best thing they bought me was GORGEOUS Michael Kors Rose Gold watch.

It's so handsome isn't it? I have to take it to the jewellers to get some links removed but then I will be able to wear it properly.

I then got ready to go to Alton Towers. This is a shameless selfie I took of me and my little sister pulling a stupid face.

We stopped for McDonalds breakfast (my favourite unhealthy breakfast!) on the way before reaching Alton Towers at about half past ten. It was heaving but I didn't mind because all I wanted to do was go on the smiler again which we had fast track for anyway. None of the rest of my family had been on it either, so it was exciting for them. It was lovely because my Dad took the day off work, but unfortunately my little brother had to work today, as he has the weekend off to go to Reading Festival.

We got on quite a few rides. We started off with air, for my dad as he wanted to to go on last time he came (my 9th Birthday, I'm 20 today) but is children were too short. We went single rider so we could get on faster and we got on almost straight away which was awesome and my mum, sister and I were all on the same ride, so got to meet my dad at the end. Whilst at Air we bought a £5 refillable drinks capsule for the day (worth the £5).

We headed to Nemesis next (my favourite rollercoaster there) which my dad has wanted to go on since seeing the adverts in 1994! He loved it of course and said it was a fantastic ride. We only queued for half an hour or so, which made it even better!

We next got the skyride to 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' and went on Hex which we all loved even though it scares me! We were going to go on Rita or Th13teen but the queues were really long, and we wanted to leave by four to get to our dinner reservations. Unfortunately, coming off Hex my dad got stung by a wasp, which is when I think he must have dropped the camera. Of course we don't blame him for leaving the camera considering how brave he was about the wasp. Especially as he's a Tigers supporter (ha, rugby pun).

We split up at this point as my mum REFUSED to go on Oblivion, so me and my dad headed for Oblivion whilst my mum and sister went on 'sonic spinball' which I can take or leave to be honest. Oblivion is the only ride at Alton Towrrs that actually makes me apprehensive and I get such a huge adrenaline rush from it. It was my dads first ever ride from it and he loved it and said he was so glad he went on it but wouldn't have been able to do it straight away again.

Our smiler fast track passes were for 15:15 to 16:15 so as it was only 14.50 my sister and I headed for Enterprise, anticipating a 10-15 minute queue, which it would have been if there wasnt only one poor girl on her own doing EVERYTHING, so we queued for about 30-45 minutes. The actual ride was good as me and my sister just sang one direction over and over!

We ended the day on the beast itself- The Smiler. As we had fast pass tickets we queued for 5 minutes before going straight on. Amazing considering I queued three hours a few months ago! We all loved it, but agreed that the Rip, Ride Rockit in Florida is better only because it is more spread out and has better theming.

We left Alton Towers at fourish before heading home to pick up my brother before heading to Nottingham for my birthday meal. We went to 'Red Hot buffet' amazing because the theming and food is amazing! It's like an airport, so when you walk in you have to 'check on' before heading to departures where you are taken to your table. Luckily as we had booked we got one of the special tables, which is a booth like being in an aeroplane. You sit on old fashioned aeroplane seats in what looks like inside an aeroplane, it's so fun!

The actual food is of a really high quality and the buffet stations are so detailed as well. It was so fun and impressive. I would highly recommend it. I'm so full now it should be illegal.

Now I'm back home, exhausted but ecstatic, tucked up in bed with my favourite boy.

Today has been incredible, I'm so blessed and happy to have such a lovely and generous family.

Hope your having a wonderful night

Nelly xxx

P.s. let me know if you like diary kind of posts!

10 Minute Meal, Carb Free and Vegetarian.

2013-08-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

So this evening I had my lovely friend Mollie over for dinner. We drank tea (Earl Grey) and chatted for a bit before realising we had hardly any time to make dinner. Luckily we put our thinking caps on and came up with scrumptious bit of nutrional goodness. No carbs, no meat, no nastiness. I call it...makeshift stew.

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil.

1 large red onion.

1 large red pepper (or any colour pepper will do, red's what I had hanging around in the veg drawer)

1 clove garlic

1/2 a cabbage. ( I actually used two handfuls of pre sliced cabbage and leek)

A choice of meat substitute (I used quorn sausages, two each, but of course you can skip this step or add real meat of you wish)

1/2 a tin chopped tomatos or 1/2 a packet of passata (my fave!)

Method

1.Chop up pepper, onion and garlic. Make sure the onion and pepper is chunky to give stew a bit more 'oomph'. Slice cabbage into thin strips.

2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. When heated, add ALL the veg to the oil and keep stirring for five minutes. If your using real meat give it a headstart on the veg but if using Quorn add a little afterwards.

3. Stir in Passata or tinned tomatos before letting simmer for three minutes (Passata and chopped tomatos don't need long AT ALL, it's just tinned plum tomatos that do.

4. Bon Appetit!

I can honestly say this is incredibly easy and filling but also very nutritious as well. Plenty of veg including greens. Of course you could use any veg you liked, but I think all the veg I used complimented it nicely. A very colourful dish that is healthy and delicious. Do give me a shout if you try this and let me know what you think. I know its simple, but it fitted in so well with my lifestyle today.

Happy Eating! I hope you having a wonderful day/night.

Nelly xxx

Get to know me, lets go back to Myspace.

2013-08-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Do you remember doing these on Myspace bulletins back-in-the-day? I do, I used to LOVE doing them, probably because I like talking about myself so much (joking...maybe). I was a bit addicted to Myspace and it was the ultimate diss if you were dropped a position on someone's 'Top Friends' list. Then facebook came along and in 2007 I got sucked in because I could throw sheep at people. Anyone remember that from facebook? I can't remember when they stopped that profile-app-thing but that was the main lure. I also had a virtual aquarium, ahh those were the days!

This was my profile picture on myspace. Lord, my nose looks big here!

And this is what I look like now, not much has changed, eh?

Anyway, no more reminiscing! Time to get to the nitty gritty, time to get to know the real me.

Name: Nelly

Nicknames: Nells, possibly?

Birthday: 19/08, its close!

Place of Birth: Ashford, Kent. Wish I still lived down south.

Star Sign: Leo.

Occupation: Student and Bodyshop worker. The shop, not a garage.

Appearance:

Hair colour: Naturally brown, but I have blonde ends.

Hair length: Relatively long, but not quite the long luscious locks I'm aiming for yet after the terrible chop of '07.

Eye colour: Brown, how dull.

Best feature: Weirdly, I quite like my nose (minus old myspace picture).

Braces: I wanted them, but my teeth are too straight. (Oh boo hoo).

Piercings: I have my ears and nose done, but don't tend to wear piercings much anymore.

Tattoos: Two magpies on a branch on my back.

Righty of Lefty: Politically or hand wise? Ones right, ones left, I'll let you guess which order.

Firsts:

Best friend: Still my best friend, lovely lady called Mollie.

Award: Probably a five metre swimming badge in all honesty, as much as I would like to say something more interesting.

Sport: The first 'team' I was on was the football team in year 5. Apart from that I think I went to gymnastics once or twice.

Concert: Steps! When I was nine, my mum bought me a new skirt from a shop called Adams, unfortunately closed down now.

Favourites:

Film: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

TV Show: Dads Army, Only Fools and Horses, Friends, Gavin and Stacey and Peep Show.

Colour: Red, Freud would have something to say I'm sure.

Song: American Pie by Don McClean. I swear I'm under 60.

Restaurant: Chain Restaurant, Prezzo.

Store: Bodyshop of course!

Book: Harry Potter. But if they are excluded 'Oryx and Crake' by Margaret Atwood.

Magazine: Erm, I suppose Glamour Magazine.

Shoes: My handmade slippers.

Currently…

Feeling: Rather tired.

Single or Taken: Single, just come out of a messy three year relationship.

Eating: I just cooked an amazing dinner! Pork chop with home made guacamole, mashed sweet potato and swede and asparagus. So yummy!

Listening to: The sound of silence. Not the song.

Thinking about: Buying a cafetiere.

Watching: Nothing, but the last thing I watched was 'I can't even' Geek Week edition.

Wearing: Primark pyjamas with a new look jumper.

Future:

Want Children: Undecided. I like the idea of them, but they are sticky and smelly and ergh.

Want to be married: Ideally.

Careers in mind: Teacher, Police, Novelist, Rugby Player...

Where do you want to live: London for a bit before moving back to Kent to settle down.

Do you believe in:

God: I'm very definite Agnostic.

Miracles: Not really.

Love at First Sight: No, lust at first sight more like.

Ghosts: I hate to say it, but yes.

Aliens: Well, we can't be the only life form in the universe.

Soul Mates: No.

Kissing on the first date?: Why not?

Yourself: Sometimes.

So that is it! I would love to get to know you as well! Why not send me a tweet or message?

I hope your having a wonderful day/night.

Nelly xxx