an April fool

So, in terms of blogging, I think we can safely say that March, for me, was a bit of a write-off. I just got into one of those slumps and I really didn't feel inspired at all. There was a couple of times when I sat down to write a blog post, but just wasn't really feeling it, so I knew that whatever I wrote would be a bit pointless and rubbish. I don't want to blog just for the sake of it so I didn't blog. Anyway, moan over, April is here so it's time for me to (in the words of Sister Mary Clarence, aka Deloris Van Cartier aka Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 2) wake up and pay attention. I promise I'll be better this month, I've already got plans, big plans, the biggest bloody plans this side of Kentucky, oh yeah!

I thought I'd do a bit of a summary type thing today; quite a lot of other bloggers do them, and I always enjoy reading them, so hey, let's give it a go.

I'm currently loving;

Polka dot nails (as seen above) The genius that is Gem Fatale did a marvellous Tuesday Tips post all about how to create perfect polka dot nails. Following her advice, I used the end of a hair grip to create mine. Still not absolutely perfect, but they're getting there. Sometimes I find it hard to decide what colours I want to put together - I have a stupid number of nail polishes but obviously, can't use them all, so this was a good opportunity to get lots of my favourites involved in one design. I was also inspired by this image;

Source

Sleek makeup. I managed to get my hands on the Avoir La Pêche palette and I'm loving it. I showed it to my sister, Izzi, and she wasn't a fan (pink eyeshadows can be a bit hit and miss) but I think it's beautiful and a lot of the colours can also be used as blushers, which is fine by me! Also, Sleek have gotten themselves into my good books this week, by FINALLY sending out the voucher codes they promised months ago after a lot of us had difficulties in the 50% off sale. I'll be treating myself to some super cheap goodies (as long as everything isn't sold out - eek!)

This video - I don't feel I need to really say anything about it, just watch. This guy is AMAZING.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I bought this book on a whim; it's really not the sort of genre I'd choose to read, but I'd heard a lot about the films and thought I'd give it a whirl. It's a bit of a slow-starter, but boy, once you get into it, it's hard to put down. I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon reading it and have only got a couple more chapters to go until the end. I'd quite like to watch the film but am a bit worried about how violent/disturbing it is. We've already established that I'm a massive wimp and this book deals with some really dark and upsetting stuff, which I imagine would be pretty unpleasant to watch on screen. Even so, it's definitely worth a read if you haven't done so already.

Primark jewellery. I bought this ring a week or so ago and I absolutely love it! The majority of my rings are from Primark nowadays. At £2.50/£3.00 a pop, you can't really complain, especially when the equivalent in Topshop would be at least £8, probably more. Bloody love Primark.

I'm currently hating;

Paper cuts. Yes, this is pathetic, but the other day I reached into my bag for my house keys and caught my finger on an insanely sharp bit of paper. I couldn't believe how much it hurt and my initial (clearly quite illogical) reaction was "oh my god, there's a knife in my bag". I just wanted to include this story to emphasise firstly how ridiculous I am when it comes to even the smallest injury and secondly that my brain works in the strangest ways.

My spending habits. I've decided that I am very naughty when it comes to spending and therefore, for the next month, I'm not allowed to buy any makeup at all. (once I've bought my Sleek stuff, obviously...) I realised this when I went into Superdrug last week, saw that Collection 2000 was offering a free Hot Looks nail varnish if you purchased £4 worth of products and decided that I HAD to find something to buy because I NEEDED another nail polish. Now I know that £4 isn't a lot of money at all, but I do this sort of thing way too often. Not only that, but I definitely did not need another nail polish. I have about 40 already. It took me ages to decide what to buy (because I really didn't need anything) and in the end I went for two Lock and Hold lipglosses, which are lovely, but completely unnecessary. Bad Franki. No more spending for you.

When stuff breaks for no reason. You may have noticed that I didn't do a POTM video for February. This is because my Flip Mino video camera broke for seemingly no reason whatsoever. It just won't turn on. I'm not happy, it was a birthday gift, so it's not even a year old yet. I don't know if I can get it fixed, but I certainly can't afford a new one, so for now, my vlogging will have to be put on hold, which is a shame, because I really enjoy doing those videos. Gosh this has turned out to be a lot longer than planned!

I thought I'd end with some blogs that I'm really enjoying at the moment - I'll try and make this more of a regular thing because there's so many amazing bloggers out there and it's nice to share the love. So, without further ado, five to follow;

Whimsy!

It's All Peachykeen

EFFIESMAKEUPBOX

I Need More Clothes

Where Are My Knees?