Can you feel the love tonight?

Eeek I can't flippin' believe we're nearly at the end of October! I don't know whether it's because I seem to do nothing but work at the moment (my life is pretty much a tragedy right now), but it just feels like the last few months have flown over! Actually, the whole year has gone by crazily quickly! Last year, I worked as stage crew for a pantomime in Scotland from November to the beginning of January and it honestly feels like it was only yesterday - I can remember virtually every detail about that time as it was such a fun/crazy/physically and emotionally exhausting experience and yet it's very nearly a year since I was up there! It's like someone just pushed the fast forward button on 2010! Madness.

Me backstage at the panto last year with the giant - look at the size of him!

Ah well, as we near the end of October we're also nearing Halloween, Bonfire Night and, of course, Crimbo! I moan about Winter all the time, because I hate cold weather with a passion, but it really does have all the best Holidays. (I don't think Halloween and Bonfire night are really considered "Holidays" but you know what I mean!) What are you dressing as for Halloween? One of my friends told me yesterday on Twitter that he was thinking of going as Gamu from X Factor! I've got a few ideas but it depends on whether I go for a scary or a non-scary costume. I don't even definitely know what I'm doing for Halloween yet, but it has to involve fancy dress in some way, that's my only criteria. Even if I just stay at home handing out sweets to the little scallywags children who come trick or treating, as long as I'm in fancy dress, I'll be happy. Of course, when I say 'fancy dress', I mean PROPER fancy dress, not slutty fancy dress, which infuriates me beyond belief. If you want some good ideas for costumes, Beth who writes the blog Anchor Rose (which I've just recently come across and I'm loving) did a brilliant post about some of the things she's dressed up as in the past - Billy Doll from the Saw movies is probably my favourite - SO CREEPY!

This is a bit of a random post tonight - just feel like having a ramble really! Also, have you noticed? This is my fourth post in four days! I'm getting better at being a good blogger! I'm really trying to post more frequently at the moment because my followers are slowly starting to creep up on me (not literally - I know there's only 55 of them but that would still be bloody scary if they were ALL creeping up on me!) and I'm starting to get regular readers and well, I want to give them something to read and make sure they keep coming back! I've had loads of positive comments lately and I just want you all to know (and I never get sentimental, so this is a big moment guys) that I read every single one and it honestly means so much to me when people take the time to comment and say something nice! I don't think you should blog just to get followers or comments, they're more like the cherry on the cake, but I do think the 'blogosphere' (goodness me that sounds a bit wanky) is full of amazingly sweet, friendly and witty people and I love getting to interact with them all! Anyway, that's tonight's Hallmark moment over and done with, now onto more pressing matters!

Sticking with the subject of blogging, I thought I'd share the love (I'm literally turning into Barney the Dinosaur - make it stop!) even more and mention a couple of other bloggers who are brilliant and wonderful!

Firstly, Victoria, who writes the blog VIPXO, is a self-confessed Scrabble fanatic and has decided to channel her love of the board game into making the cutest Scrabble jewellery - I ordered my bracelet the week before last and it arrived last Tuesday and I love it! Look at the picture! It's got my name on it! I don't own anything else that says "Franki" on it, so it's all very exciting! (My name adds up to 13 - not bad! Or is that actually unlucky? :S) Prices vary depending on how many letters you want, but mine was less then £10 and delivery was free! I think Victoria is also planning on making rings - you can contact her at vipxoblog@gmail.com for more information. Also, check out her blog because it is lovely and so is she!

Secondly, Ayden, who writes Little Blog Of Horrors (as a serious musical geek, I love that that's what her blog is called), is having a giveaway to celebrate getting to 400 followers - well done Ayden you superstar! Ayden's blog has fast become one of my favourite reads out of all the blogs I follow; she has a really open style of writing that I really admire and she comes across as such a sweet, genuine girl. Check her out, pronto!

Right, that's enough gushiness for one post - I promise I'll be back to my moody, sarcastic self tomorrow ;) I'm off to watch the rest of Hollyoaks Later now, it's so crap but so good!

Je voudrais s'il vous plaît

Bloody typical. You put yourself on a spending ban for a couple of weeks, and suddenly it seems that all the shops in the world are calling to you, saying;

"oooh Franki, look what we've got! Look at all the pretty things! Look at them, aren't they pretty? Don't you want to buy them, Franki? Don't you want to buy them all? DON'T YOU?!"

I can officially say that Topshop's new Heavy Duty makeup collection is right at the top of my list of things I want to buy, but currently can't justify buying. Isn't it rubbish being skint? One day, when I'm a rich grown up, I'll buy all the Topshop makeup I want, you'll see, I'll be able to bath in the stuff, that's how much I'll have. For now though, I can only look longingly at the pictures on the website. Sigh...

Solid Gel Eyeliner in Ravine, £8

Lip Marker Pen in Berry, £7.50

Nails in Grunge, £6

In addition to the new Heavy Duty collection, they've also added some new products to their standard makeup line. I'm loving the new mono eyeshadows in a variety of earthy shades, and the Concealer Duo which, after having a very quick try of it in the store, looks like it gives fairly good coverage. Plus I think it's a good idea that there's two shades of concealer in one, so that you can blend them together for the perfect shade.

Eyes in Potion and Dirty Martini, £6.50 each

Concealer Duo in Light, £7

The other things I got super excited about when I was last in Topshop are the new nail wraps. I'd been thinking for a while about how I'd like to try Minx nails, but as I'm a DIY girl there's no way I'd pay to have them done in a salon when I could just learn how to do it myself instead. However, when I looked into it, I saw that you have to use a heat lamp on the Minx foils to soften them and help them adhere to your nail, and I figured, "well I don't have a heat lamp, so that's the end of that". You know what I do have though? A hairdryer, yes indeedy, and that's exactly what you need for the new Nail Rock nail wraps - wahey! As soon as I get my hands on a set of these, I'll do some kind of review on them, maybe even a video tutorial, who knows? I'm very excited though. I mean VERY excited.

Metalic Lizard and White Lace Nail Wraps, £6.50 each

snap CRACKLE pop

As soon as I heard about the new Barry M Instant Nail Effects Nail Paint, I knew I had to get hold of a bottle. In fact, I was so desperate to get my mitts on it, that when I went to Boots to buy it and there wasn't any left on the shelf, I actually opened the little storage draw underneath the display and nabbed the last bottle that was in there (I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that). It's basically a magic very clever black nail varnish that cracks and splits when you apply it over another colour, creating a cool, textured effect on your nails. If you want to get a better idea of how it works, there's a video tutorial on the Barry M site that explains how to use it.

It's slightly more tricky to apply than normal polish, as you're not supposed to overlap each stroke; usually, when I apply nail varnish (and I think most people use the same method), I do a stroke down the middle of the nail and then one on either side and they'll usually overlap a bit, because of the size of the brush. However, with this product, if you apply a really thick layer of it, you get less of a cracking effect, so you really need to try not to overlap too much (you can get away with a little bit), as the 'pattern' will look rubbish. Like I said, it is quite tricky; I find it easier to take each stroke slowly. If you're really finding it difficult though, you can also get away with just sort of putting random blobs of it on your nails, rather than trying to do a full layer all over; it splits anyway, so it doesn't matter if it looks a bit messy at first - the overall effect will be the same.
Once it dries, it's completely matte, which looks a bit weird if your base colour is glossy, but you can easily rectify this by either using a glossy topcoat over everything (which is what I've done) or by using a matte base colour (or a matte topcoat). I think either way looks cool.

Base Color - Models Own Coral Reef, Topcoat - Nails Inc Kensington Caviar.

There's only one problem I have with this, but I'm not sure it's something that can really be resolved. I've got absolutely no idea about the science behind this sort of thing, so I don't really understand how the formulation works, but I'm guessing that the reason why it splits and cracks is to do with the fact that it dries REALLY quickly. In fact, as soon as you take the brush out of the bottle, the polish on it starts to dry, which results in the brush becoming a bit lumpy and gloopy, making it even more difficult to apply it to your nails. I'd suggest washing it each time you use it, but to be honest, it's only going to happen again once you take the brush out of the bottle, so there's not much point.

See? Glooptastic...

Despite the tricky application process though, I'm liking this product; I wasn't sure of the effect at first but I've had it on for a couple of days and it's grown on me. I like that it's completely random each time and that it looks a bit grungey. It'd be cool if there was more colours; currently it's only available in black, but I'd love to see a white or nude version. As with all Barry M products, it's super cheap, at only £3.95, and the fact that you can use it over any base colour means that the possibilities are endless for different colour combos. Win!

mental.

This is silly.

Bottom row - Models Own nail polish in Black Magic, Purple Grey, Purple Ash, Becca's Brown, Nude Beige, Grace Green, Feelin' Blue, Pink Blush, Coral Reef and Red Alert.

Middle row - Barry M Nail Paint in Instant Nail Effects: Black Magic, Grey, Bright Purple, Fuchsia, Berry Ice Cream, Strawberry Ice Cream, Pink Flamingo and Mint Green, Nails Inc Kensington Caviar Base Coat and Top Coat, Sleek Nailed Polish in Brownie.

Top row - ASOS Paint by Ciaté in Lily and Chloë, 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Catwalk Couture, 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish in Parma Violet, 17 Fast Finish Nail Polish in Pink Grapefruit, 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish in Orange Soda, 17 High Gloss Nail Polish in Raspeberry Mocha, Topshop Nails in Stolen Sapphires, Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour in Particuliere.

Around the edges - Random nail art pens that were on sale in Debenhams.

I don't know how this has happened. I'm going to put myself on a ban from buying nail varnish for a while; clearly this obsession is solely to blame for me being skint at the moment.*

*not really. That's down to being on a crap wage :S

freebie jeebies

When I popped into the newsagents earlier to pick up a magazine (and a Galaxy bar, if you must know) and was faced with an array of free beauty treats, I got a bit excited. Being the cheapskate bargain hunter that I am, I love a good freebie and in this time of financial difficulty, I'm sure everyone else does too. So I thought I'd give you all a quick heads up about some flippin' marvellous freebies that are available with the November issues of the UK's top glossy mags.

First up, with ELLE (which is what I bought), you get a mini 7ml tube of Clinique's new Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in 09 Currant.

As this is a mini version, it doesn't state in the magazine how much it's worth, but the full size 15ml version is £12 so I'd hazard a guess that this is worth around £5/£6. It's a really nice, non-sticky feeling gloss, with the subtlest hint of colour. I was in need of a lipgloss, so this was an ideal freebie for me, plus it's the perfect size to chuck into even the smallest of handbags for a night out. Lovely!

Cosmopolitan is giving away a MissGuided Splash nail varnish with every issue; there's three shades to choose from (see below) and they're worth £5 each.

MissCellaneous, MissFit and MissBehave, £5 each from MissGuided

There's more free nail varnish with Marie Claire, which is giving away a free bottle of Ciaté Paint Pots. You can choose from either Dangerous Affair or Mistress, worth £9 each.

Dangerous Affair and Mistress, £9 each from Ciaté

Normally I'd have definitely gone for a free nail varnish rather than the lipgloss, but I do love Elle magazine and I also feel like I've gone a bit mental with the nail varnish of late. At my last count I had twenty eight different colours and it's not like I can wear them all at once so it seems a bit excessive to get any more for a while. Even so, I am really liking the look of Dangerous Affair - Ciaté nail varnishes are excellent, so IMO the Marie Claire offer is a particularly good one.

Finally, with the November issue of InStyle (which, incidentally, has Ginnifer Goodwin on the cover, who I LOVE!), you get a free 30ml tube of L'Occitane hand cream, worth £7, with three fragrances to choose from.

Shea Butter, Cherry Blossom and Fleur Cherie, £7 each from L'Occitane

I've never used it, but I hear L'Occitane stuff is lovely; my Mum always goes on about the Shea Butter handcream, and she's right about most things, so I would say that this is yet another brilliant offer!

Now I've just done the maths and while I'm not saying anyone should do actually this, it might be worth noting that if you were to go out and buy one copy of ELLE, two copies of Marie Claire and three copies of both Cosmo and InStyle so that you had all of the freebies listed above, you'd be getting £60 worth of stuff for £31.90! That's a pretty impressive saving! Like I said, I'm not expecting anyone to go out and do this - I mean, who needs three tubes of hand cream?! But the point here is, freebies are brilliant!

Meow

Ever since I watched How To Marry A Millionaire ages ago, I've been thinking that "cat eye" glasses are quite cool.

Fortunately for me, it looks as though feline frames (yes, I'm a dork, but alliteration is good for the soul!) are set to be a bit of a trend this season; the Prada Fall 2010 collection featured a comical take on cat eyes, with brightly coloured eyebrows drawn across the top of the frames.

They were also featured in the Nina Ricci Fall collection, although as sunglasses rather than normal glasses;

images from style.com

I'm thinking that, since "Buddy Holly/geek" style glasses have already been kind of a big thing over the past couple of years, it's only a matter of time before other types of quirky glasses, such as cat eyes, become the norm.

They remind me of Marty from Grease, because she wears a sparkly pair near the beginning of the film and asks Rizzo "don't you think they make me look smarter?" before a rhinestone falls off them and into her plate of macaroni, bless her.

[These are some cheeky screen grabs I got from my Grease DVD (it's really tricky getting a good screen grab you know!). Unfortunately, I was focusing so much on Marty and her glasses, I didn't notice that Rizzo looks like she's having a stroke in the second shot, until I'd already saved it, and by then I just couldn't be bothered going back and getting another one. Sorry Rizzo. Also, what is that guy doing in the background?!]

While I do think that a spangly pair of cat eyes could look quite cute, I worry that once you start adding extreme amounts of bling to these glasses, you're stepping into Dame Edna territory, and I'm not sure any of us want to go down that path, do we?

"Hello possums!"

Anyway, Australian transvestites aside, I did a quick search on t'Internet and found a variety of cat eye glasses on vintage sites and eBay, although most of the best ones were sunglasses and I'm really looking for the kind with plain lenses. However, they are quite cheap, so I suppose if you found a pair of sunglasses with a really good frame, you could just buy them and then replace the lens? Or just remove the lens altogether? There's definitely options here, people! I did also stumble across a few variations on ASOS; the first pair below are definitely my favourites.

Solid Black Cat Eye Geeky Specs, £10 ASOS

Feline Crystal, $20 Giant Vintage

Cat Eye Glasses With Rhinestones, $7.99 Girl Props

I do actually wear glasses as I'm quite shortsighted, and it's been a while since I've had my eyes tested, so I probably need to buy a new pair. That being said, I'm not sure I could seriously wear a pair of cat eyes for work, (I can just imagine the sort of looks I'd get... sadly the people in my office just aren't down with the kids...) so I'll probably get a cheap pair (like the ASOS ones above) and then invest in a more 'serious' pair for when I need to be a sensible grown up type (blergh!). What do you think? Would you wear them? And will I look mad if I get a pair?!

Products of the Month - October

Look! It's me! In a video! Oooh technology!