Teddy Bear

I've been missing for a few days now and here's the reason why, I'd like to introduce baby Marnie! She is the cutest puppy in the world and I'm absolutely smitten. As I've said before I'm unemployed but taking care of Marnie is now my new full time job. Honestly I'm really surprised how much hard work puppies are but she's so cute it's worth it! She's a Lhasa Apso, a breed that originates in Tibet. She won't be growing too big so she'll be a perfect house dog in the future. Here's some photos of the little babe for your viewing enjoyment. (Doesn't she just look like a tiny teddy bear!)

Well that's the cute quota filled for the month so it shall be back to regular fashion and beauty matters tomorrow!

Bargain Alert!

Glamour is a magazine that usually isn’t on my radar but this month it comes with one of three fabulous benefit gifts; the porefessional, bad gal mascara and that gal primer. They are quite generous sample sizes and perfect for throwing in your bag during the day. The only difficulty is finding them. The magazine only came out on the 31^st may and already they are really picked over. I can’t find that gal primer anywhere but I managed to get my paws on a porefessional though so I’m not too downhearted. The porefessional is a product I’ve been dying to try since I first heard about it. It promises to minimize pores and help makeup stay put. I’ve been using it for a few days now and it definitely makes my skin feel baby soft. I think it’s helping my makeup stay on longer too which is a bonus. I don’t have overly large pores so I don’t really notice a difference on that front. As with anything benefit produce the packaging is super sweet and is perking up my makeup bag nicely.

If you can track down a copy I definitely recommend snapping it up!

Nine Inch Nails

Happy bank holiday Monday! I spent the day having a long lie in and going for a bit of a dander into town. Little did I know the Olympic torch was coming through which was a lovely surprise. I've been lusting after the models own x hed kandi range for what seems like ages now. I love the models own polishes as the bottles are huge and the formula is usually quite good (there’s nothing I hate more than a watery polish!). I bought ‘Ibiza mix’ because it is probably the cutest nail polish I have ever seen. The dense glitter makes me think of birthday parties and sunny days. The glitter itself is made up of varying sizes of glitter in blues, golds, pinks and greens. Even with one coat it provides a good even coverage so I’m thinking this bottle will last me ages. Which is great because I think this is my favourite polish ever. I used O.P.I. Cajun shrimp as my base colour with 17 matte top coat over it before I applied Ibiza mix. 

It's so easy to do but it makes your nails look amazing. I think I've definitely found my nail saviour product as it puts me in such a good mood when I look at my nails. It's £5 at boots at the moment and when you spend £5 or more at boots at the moment you get a £5 no.7 voucher making it even more worth your while. So it's happy days all round!

A whiter shade of pale

The sun has gone into hiding once again but here’s hoping it’s going to be sunny for the bank holiday weekend! I’m sick of looking like a poor man’s Wednesday Adams so I’m trying out Garnier summer body. It’s a gradual tan that provides a very light, natural looking tan. I find the formula is relatively non-greasy and it sinks in very quickly. It smells of apricots which is a bonus as the scent lingers all day, which is a welcome change from the usual biscuit smell. Even with gradual tan I think it’s important to exfoliate regularly to stop patches developing. As I'm a poor student I usually just make my own scrub to exfoliate with by using some brown sugar and olive oil mixed in a bowl. Back to the tan, it comes in two shades, a lighter and a darker one. My skin’s naturally quite sallow so I went for the ‘deep, sun-kissed’ shade which didn’t leave me looking like an extra in the only way is Essex. I've been using it for a while now and it's definitely made me feel more confident getting my legs out after a long winter of black opaques. All in all it's cheaper than flights to Santa Ponsa so I'm happy! 

£5.10 at Boots

Fade to grey

Zara’s grey messenger bag is turning out to be the bag of the summer. After seeing it all over the blogosphere and then in store, I just had to get it. It’s a really good price for a Zara bag retailing at £19.99/€29.99. It comes in black, red or elephant grey. My local store had run out of the grey so I had it delivered. I never ever want to buy anything in-store again, it arrives lovingly wrapped up in a giant box. It's like getting a present (that you paid for).

 The only down point with the grey version is that the colour is so light so it gets stained so easily. I got the grey because it has beautiful rose gold hardware on the clasp and bottom. Rose gold is becoming really popular on the high street and I think it looks less harsh on most people's complexions compared to normal golden tones. The combination of the material and rose gold makes it look way more expensive than it is. 

It’s a total Mary Poppins bag as my laptop, camera, make-up and sunglasses all fit in happily. Obviously it’s not real leather but for the price it’s surprisingly good quality and soft. It goes with absolutely everything. I’m very very tempted to get the red too but seeing as I'm still unemployed I better restrain myself.

Seeing as I’m showing my lovely new bag I thought now would be a good time to do a ‘what’s in my bag’ post. I’m very nosy and love seeing these on other people’s blogs!  I’ve got a pack of Kleenexes, Sure anti-perspirant, Vaseline hand cream, Denman strawberry hairbrush (even though the strawberry scent has disappeared, cry), sunglasses, Kurt Geiger Perspex purse and one of the books from game of thrones (I am obsessed with these books!). I carry a little makeup bag in it too with just a few bits I need throughout the day. I use a No.7 bag I got free with some products ages ago. In it is a mirror, Rimmel ‘scandaleyes’ mascara, Benefit ‘some kinda gorgeous’ foundation, mac lipstick in ‘ruby woo’ and some good old Vaseline. 

Introduction to dancing round the table

This is my first post so I thought I'd introduce myself and the blog. Dancing round the table is going to be a blog that's a jumble of beauty, fashion and some other random pieces. I'm studying genetics at university but I've always loved fashion.

Here's a few facts about me; I'm more than a bit of a coffee addict, I feel the need to overdress for all occasions (my motto is that it's no good to anyone hanging in the wardrobe), I spend more than a healthy amount of time pouring over Elle magazine and wandering round the shops. My style is lead more by fun than what's on trend and there's nothing I like better in life than a good peter pan collar. 

I'm heading into third year of university so I'm hoping blogging will be a welcome distraction from all things science related. I've loads of posts planned so hopefully I'll be posting regularly and start featuring some outfit posts when I'm feeling a bit braver.

In the meantime here's a photo I took yesterday before the sun when into hiding.