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Nail Art – Just What The Doctor Ordered

by makeupandmirtazapine on April 23, 2013 in Fashion, Make-Up and Skin Care

“No one likes getting their nails done more than I do.” ~ Serena Williams

I got my nails done. As my doctor prescribed.

In April last year I began having appointments with my doctor at least once a week. After the mental health crisis team became involved in my treatment she wasn’t willing to prescribe me more than seven days worth of medication at a time. And even when that eventually increased to fourteen, then twenty-eight days, she still wanted me check in to reassure her that I was still, y’know, around.

After a few months of this my doctor became someone I knew almost as much as she was my doctor. So she started prescribing me more than just medicine and therapy.

One appointment in June she told me that I should get my hair cut and my nails done before I saw her again.

And since then she’s taken whether I’ve kept up with maintaining them as a measure of how well I’m doing.

I guess it was a good idea. Having nice nails to look at made me feel a bit better, and spending half an hour every couple of weeks in the company of a not-especially-talkative nail technician was a good way of building my confidence in being around people.

I have gel nails. I read somewhere that they’re better for your nails than acrylics. And I like the way they do them at the salon I go to. They make them short, and quite thin, and round off the tips, so that most people think that I just have really nice nails of my own until I tell them they’re fake. If they were any bigger they probably wouldn’t suit my hands, I have very slender fingers so clunky or square tipped nails wouldn’t really work for me.

My nails grow quite quickly so I need to get infills every two to three weeks. If I leave it as long as six weeks they tend to start breaking. They can be filled down and even clipped in the meantime so that they don’t become impractically long.

I have them painted with a different colour and nail art each time, the ladies at the nail bar I go to are really good and do me some really pretty and delicate patterns. I get loads of compliments on how nice they look.

I’ve let the gel nails grow off a couple of times since I first started having them done. When I first got Natalie Portman she used to like to chew them, but it seemed like a waste of money to have them done only to have them chipped soon after I got home. Anyway, when they were off my own nails seemed perfectly normal and healthy, and they grew just as well as they had before.

My local salon charged me £30 for a full set, including the nails and the nail art, and then £20 a time for infills. I’ve also tried a salon near my friend’s house in London. They charged £40 for a full set and £30 for the infills. They’re very pretty but I think I’ve decided it’s worth it for the therapeutic value as much as for the actual nails. I’m not sure whether I’d decide to spend that much quite so regularly if the nails were all I was getting out of it.

I’d definitely recommend them to anyone who was thinking about it though.

Chanel Fragrance – Allure Sensuelle

by makeupandmirtazapine on March 21, 2013 in Fashion

“A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.” ~ Coco Chanel

I suppose in a review of a fragrance I’m meant to tell you what it smells of, but the thing is I can’t describe it exactly, and it doesn’t say on the box what’s actually in it. The Chanel website just says that it combines the facets of Fresh, Timeless Floral, Woody, Fruity, and Oriental – which doesn’t tell us very much – although it does mention vanilla and amber patchouli as being ingredients.

The best I can do is to say that in ‘Sensuelle’ this fragrance is aptly named, it’s feminine without being fruity or girly, and the smell is distinctive but subtle. It feels like a very grown up fragrance.

This carries through to the minimalist design of the bottle and burgundy lettering and cap with gold trim.

There are a couple of reasons why I like the Allure Sensuelle.

The first is that it isn’t entirely unlike the original Chanel Allure fragrance; which happens to be worn by most of my favourite women, but has a spicier, woodier scent to it that makes it more to my liking. Which means that I get to wear a scent that I enjoy that also reminds me of people who I love.

The Allure Sensuelle also seems to be less widely used than the original which makes it a more unique choice for a signature scent.

The second reason is that the Chanel lady who sold it to me told me that in the UK this fragrance is only available as an eau de parfum, which made it feel like a more decadent choice the Coco Mademoiselle that I’d originally been looking for.

This perfume is available in 50ml and 100ml bottles. I paid £60 for the 50ml bottle in House of Fraser, but a quick glance around the internet suggests that you’re more likely to pay around £66 in most places, with the £100ml being just under £100. Which is, well, a lot, compared to many other popular fragrances.

On the plus side this is a strong scent which lasts, so you don’t need to use too much of it. The Allure Sensuelle has been my main fragrance since I bought it in early June and I still have quarter of the bottle left.

This is probably a good perfume to buy if you really want to splurge on a treat for yourself or if you try it and fall completely in love with it. Otherwise there are plenty of other great fragrances available for about £20 less.

More Reviews:

Benefit – So Hooked On Carmella
The Essentials
Chanel Hydramax + Active Nutrition Lip Care

Benefit – So Hooked On Carmella – 30ml eau de toilette

by makeupandmirtazapine on February 12, 2013 in Fashion

A friend got me Benefit’s So Hooked On Carmella for my birthday last year and it’s a really nice fragrance.

I like it because it’s very different from anything I’ve had before. The scent is a mixture of citrus fruits, sandalwood, vanilla, and something chocolatey, but they blend nicely together so nothing about the fragrance is overpowering as can so often be the problem, particularly with vanilla. It’s a surprisingly subtle smell, and fresh, particularly good for wearing during the day time I think especially in summer.

You don’t need to put much of it on, as it’s quite strong and last for ages, my pashmina scarf still smells of Carmella from when I spritzed some on over a week ago.

It was a good call for a present for me as I’m usually a bit of a perfume snob and don’t like many fragrances.

It comes in a very pretty bottle, in a very pretty box, that will look nice on your dressing table. And fair enough, a large part of the price that you pay for the fragrance is probably to pay for packaging but I don’t think that matters so much. It’s nice to be surrounded by nice things, it makes your home a nicer place to be, and there’s nothing wrong with paying a little bit extra for that.

I’ve never quite understood why it’s considered shallow to buy into the image that we’re sold by product advertising, especially of things like beauty products. If occasionally buying into a different image of yourself makes you feel a bit better, I think that can be money well spent. As I’ve said before I’m an advocate of retail therapy. So long as you aren’t spending money that you don’t have, and your perfume, or lipstick, or whatever, aren’t the only source of your self-esteem.

Speaking of price, this costs £29.50 for a 30ml bottle, which doesn’t seem unreasonable to me for a perfume.

Although having said that I am quite extravagant when it comes to perfumes. The last one that I bought for myself was Chanel’s Allure Sensuelle, the one they don’t do in eau de toilette, you have to buy either the parfum or eau de parfum. So possibly I’m not the best one to judge.

If you find that you think the Carmella sounds nice but not quite what you’re after, this fragrance is part of the Crescent Row range, so you have seven other possibilities to choose from. All of which I think are quite nice. Some are little fruitier, some a little spicier, some a little muskier, they cater to a range of tastes. So it’s worth stopping by the Benefit counter to take a look, anyway.

More Reviews:

Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Flash

The Essentials

Chanel Vitalumèire Aqua Ultra-Light Skin Perfecting Makeup Instant Natural Radiance SPF 15

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