Apologies for my lack of blogging over the past few weeks but as the end of the school year approached, I was very busy with award ceremonies and graduations which were followed by a nice little break during which I slept a lot and just chilled out, really. Now though, I'm back to blogging with a bang and, with a long summer ahead of me, I plan to post a lot more regularly. So to kick things off, here is the second installment of my Get Creative Series, this time it's all about the nails.

Summery yellow with white cross symbol

Nail art has definitely been having a moment lately and, with nail polish matching previously unrivaled lipstick sales last year; it seems as if adorning our nails with beautiful designs is more than just a fleeting trend. What better way to express your creativity than by using your nails as a canvas and painting to your heart's content. As I said in my first nail art post, you don't have to be the next WAH NAILS artist to recreate your favourite looks. All it takes is a little bit of patience and some cute, crazy or colourful ideas. Below, I have included some useful links but first, to show you how easy and obtainable it is to get creative with your nails, here are a few basic designs I pulled off myself:

Pink and orange aztec-style

Coral with white cross symbol

Pink and blue vertical stripes (tutorial here)

Useful Links:

WAH NAILS - The iconic East London nail salon's website. Click Archive to see all of their amazing creations. 

Cute Polish Tribal Nails - Check out the other great videos on the Cute Polish channel as well!

10 Nail Posts - Blogger Lily Pebbles looks back at ten of her favourite nail posts.

The Nailasaurus - Pore enviously over this feast of nail art. Jealous is not the word. 

I hope this blog post has inspired you to get creative with your nails. It is 100% possible to have fun and experiment with a variety of looks even on a budget. By no means am I a nail art expert at all, I simply want to share with you, different ways of expressing your creativity and nail art is one of those ways. So I hope this post was worthwhile, I really enjoyed putting it together and it has encouraged me to give more complicated nail art a go! I love comments, so leave one below telling me what you think or let me know if you have any suggestions for what you'd like to see more of on Life Beauty Blogger.

Enjoy the lovely weather!

xxx

Get Creative Series: Part 1 - Photography

This year, more than others, I've really broadened my creativity. I've started a blog, I've began taking photographs with a more critical eye and I've developed, even further, my taste in music. But being creative can involve a whole lot more than just the few things I have mentioned. From fashion and food, to art and even dancing, the possibilities of outlets through which you can express your creativity are endless. Over the next short while I'm going to be posting some of the ways I like to chill out/enjoy myself through creativity and I hope these ideas will also help you to awaken your artistry. The first topic in my Get Creative series of posts is the art of photography. Hope you like it!

This photo was taken with my smartphone's 5MP camera,
proving that expensive photography equipment isn't always
needed for impressive results

Start Snapping

Photography is something I only began to appreciate and take a bit more seriously in recent months. I mostly just use my smartphone (with its humble 5MP camera) or a pretty basic 10MP Fujifilm digital camera as I don't think pricey SLR cameras are always necessary when starting out. I find that using your smartphone wisely and trying out different photo editing apps can give just as promising results.

For my Instagram account (@lifebeautyblogger), I sometimes edit my photos with an app called AfterFocus and then use a softening filter like Walden, Valencia or Nashville to give a nice finishing touch. Other times, I leave  photo just the way it is, if I am already happy with the colour and lighting.

An untouched photo I took this morning

The same photo edited, as described above, for Instagram

The most important aspect to keep in mind while taking photographs is, of course, lighting. Also, consider the photograph as a whole; the background is equally as important as the subject, and clutter will only take from the picture. Lastly, always keep your eyes wide open as you never know when the perfect photo opportunity may arise (and I'm not talking about selfies!) whilst exploring a bustling street or strolling along a quiet country lane.

A recent unedited photo I took while on a boat to the Aran Islands.
This was also taken on my smartphone.

Beauty Wish List

Ah, the downsides of being a shopaholic.... I always seem to have an arm-length wish list of beauty products just pleading to be purchased. I've narrowed down my lengthy list to five products that I'm lusting over at the moment and I created my first collage on picmonkey.com (a really simple website for editing photos and creating collages like the one below). So without further ado, I present to you my current Beauty Wish List:

1) Real Techniques Blush Brush, €12.99
Teen Vogue call it "Photoshop for your skin" and this Real Techniques brush seems to be one of the best on the market for perfect blush application. I love all of the Real Techniques brushes because of their fab, dense quality, lack of hair shedding and cute colours as well as their outstanding blending abilities. I can't wait to get my hands on this blush brush to add to my collection.

2) Sleek Face Form, €12.99
You've got to love multi-purpose products and this trio of contour powder, highlighter and blush has caught my eye recently. Available in four shades; Fair, Light, Medium and Dark (the latter two include bronzer instead of blush) this would be a great little compact for travelling or for popping into your handbag instead of lugging around three different products all the time.

3) Marc Jacobs Daisy Delight EDT 50ml, €61.00
Maybe it's just because of the absolutely adorable bottle that I was attracted to this fragrance but the fresh new edition of Marc Jacobs' bestselling Daisy is bound to smell just as fantastic. Or maybe it's just the bottle...

4) Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, €13.99
After reading countless reviews about this wonderfully light foundation, I've decided that this will be my next purchase after my current No7 Essentially Natural foundation is gone. I generally prefer lighter coverage foundations and this one is meant to smell amazing as well so I'll be giving it a go shortly.

5) Essie Resort Fling, €9.99
One of the four summery shades from Essie's Resort 2014 collection, this "peachy coral" (according to Essie) is the perfect nail colour for long and sunny days on the beach. Although Essie polishes are quite expensive, I'd love to buy this particular shade as I've always been a fan of corals, especially over the summer months.

March/April Favourites

Here its is! My latest monthly favourites post, this time with a Spring theme. The season of cherry blossoms and daffodils is upon us so sit back and enjoy my monthly roundup of beauty, fashion and music.

Beauty: Only because it was on sale in Boots did I purchase Maybelline's new priming product: Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser. Maybelline promise to give us a "baby smooth and matte finish" while erasing all traces of pores with this lightweight primer, but in terms of priming; it didn't really excel. It did however give my skin a lovely dewy look and it did smooth out my skin considerably with it's clear gel-like texture (that could be a nuisance for some as it tends to make your fingers a bit greasy on application) . It's certainly not a phenomenal breakthrough for Maybelline but at the same time it does what it claims to do and it does it pretty well.

I also tried Collection 200's Cream Puff Lip Cream in Fairy Cake which I really like. The colour is a beautiful deep coral and the lip cream (a moisturising matte lip gloss) stays put for longer than most lip products.

The final product in this month's beauty section is the Natural Collection Blushed Cheeks blusher. The shade I bought was Peach Melba which is a darker shade than I would normally wear on my cheeks but it's a great bargain blusher.

Fashion: Flower crowns and floral hair pieces have been on my radar during recent weeks and, with images of floral fashion at Coachella pouring onto my Instagram (@lifebeautyblogger) feed making me extremely jealous, I went out and bought myself a bunch of flowers. Just kidding, I actually bought some pretty, floral accessories in Penneys/Primark. It wouldn't be spring without florals, would it? I'm not yet brave enough to pull off one of the larger flower crowns but I bought a pink, rose entwined hairband which I think is adorable. I also bought a pair of orange flower earrings with a diamond in the centre. Both the hairband and the pair of earrings cost a mere €2 each so my Coachella jealousy was eased a little.
Flower power all the way!

Large flower earrings on the far left and pink rose
hairband on the right, both €2 each  from Penneys.

Music: I absolutley love Ed Sheeran's music. His unbelievable lyrical talent is proving to the music world that he is one of the best songwriters of our generation. I'm counting down the days until I get to see him in concert (170 days in case you're wondering) and I've played his debut album "+" (plus) so often on my iPod that I know almost every song by heart. The official audio of the new single off his second album "x" (multiply) was released a week ago. The song is called SING and I didn't like it at first but after a few good listens, it started to grow on me. It's very catchy but so different to his previous songs which had a much calmer vibe to them. I'm still not sure about it but I'll trust Ed on this one as there is no doubting his talent. Listen to it here: Ed Sheeran - SING and let me know what you think.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter.

xxx

Monthly Tumblr Favourites

For the duration of March and the beginning of April, my tumblr blog lifebeautyblogger.tumblr.com seems to have been filled with very feminine looks with shades of pink and blue being the most prominent colours gracing the pages of the blog in recent weeks. I suppose the looks below are a true reflection of my taste at the moment which includes tailored jackets and pencil skirts in varying patterns. I feel that pattern is huge at the moment and I'm certainly drawn to it anyway as it can add another dimension to an outfit while heightening the sophistication. Plus, classy pattern makes your skirt/blazer/jeans look a whole lot more elegant.

Looking further back to the start of March, however, the outfits and street style looks that I reblogged were of a different kind with bold pops of colour and more laid back clothing on show. I hope you enjoy looking at my favourite images from March and April above and below, whatever your taste may be. Included are some gorgeous nail art photographs as well. If only we could all paint our nails like that.....                                                                                                             Enjoy!

                                                 

All images courtesy of Tumblr.com

Music of the Month: March

Just a quick post but I felt I had to share these artists and songs before some new great tunes start playing (on repeat) in my constantly singing mind. Here are my top songs at the moment, each by very individual artists all of whom I really enjoy listening to. Do check out their other songs as well if you're in the mood for some good music. I have featured a couple of these songs in other posts before but here are the links to the Youtube videos:

John Newman - Out Of My Head 
Paloma Faith - Only Love Can Hurt Like This (not the official video as it hasn't been released yet)
Sam Smith - Money On My Mind (clever lyric video)
Kodaline - One Day
Avicii - Addicted To You

Special mention to Let It Go (from Frozen) performed by Idina Menzel.
A gorgeous song from an even more gorgeous film (you really can't beat Disney) and it most definitely deserved the Oscar. Just had to add that one to the end of the list because I literally can't stop singing it!

Paloma proves that she's not only capable hitting the high notes
with her new track "Only Love Can Hurt Like This"
but also with her edgy style proven here at London Fashion Week.

Gold Rush

I was never one for wearing gold jewellery until very recently when I picked up a few gorgeous, more urban, gold pieces. The chunky gold chain in particular has been frequently exhibited on the necks of many famous stars including singers Rita Ora and Rihanna. Statement jewellery is certainly growing on me and I like to pair my pieces with simple, clean cut tops, turn back sleeve t shirts and blazers. Below are two of my favourite gold necklaces. The chunky chain was purchased in Penneys at a very reasonable price and I bought the stud necklace during the sale at Accessorize, so it is definitely possible to buy lovely jewellery on a budget.

Also featured in my photographs is a beautifully soft and fluffy, pink snood and the latest issue of Company magazine (with my absolute favourite Youtuber, Zoella, on the cover!) which I have recently started reading. I love finding new magazines like Company, as they feature less generic artists, designers and personalities but have a substantial amount of street style/high street content and very interesting articles. Take a look at the magazine's take on the best street style looks from London Fashion Week here: http://www.company.co.uk/fashion/street/london-fashion-week-lfw-street-style-AW14?page=1