I'm gunna drink my tears tonight

I haven't done any kind of sponsered product review in a long time, so I was really excited when I got an email from a online hair tools retailer called Misikko, asking me to review one of their top selling flat irons! Misikko carries all kinds of different kinds of hair tools with a range of prices and model types, so you can bet they have what you're looking for. Hair irons, blow dryers, and even top of the line proffesional tools. I have naturally straight hair, but I like to use a flat iron once and a while to get that extra smooth and straight look. My old flat iron was pretty good, but I've had it for years and has seen better days. Misikko sent me the Hana proffesional flat iron... in pink! How fun! Not many people would guess this, but pink is actually my favourite colour. I normally wouldn't mention the packaging, but just look how nice the package was that I got my straightener in! How sweet, I felt so spoiled. The iron itself is really nice, and I love that it has a rounded shape which comes in handy if you use your flat iron to curl your hair as well (more on that in a bit). You can adjust the heat on this flat iron, and the instruction booklet shows just what temperature to set it at depending on your hair type (I never knew what to set it on with my old one!). I timed how long it took to warm up, and it took just under a minute, I was shocked! Plus there's a little light that flashes when the iron is ready, which really comes in handy.

Okay, now to test it out! This is what my hair looks like when I let it air dry and don't brush it either. On the description for this iron, it says you can use it on damp hair, so to test out this claim I started straightening before my hair was completely dry. Half way done! See how frizzy my hair looks when I brush it out (the right side)? Done! After using my old iron for years, I really forgot what it was like to get hair like this. It was PIN STRAIGHT... a bit too straight tbh, so after wards I backcombed the roots a bit and used a bit of hairspray to give it a bit of texture. I've never been able to do it successfully, but I really wanted to test out how well this iron would be when I tried curling my hair with it. You can find tutorials on Youtube of how to curl your hair with a flat iron, but I think it's key to experiment a lot in order to get it right. But I'm happy to say I finally got it! Before: washed the day before, no product, and air dried. I got some really nice, smooth curls with this thing! Some of them looked better than others, so I brushed out the curls to get a nice wavy look instead. I think it looks pretty good, especially considering it took less than 10 minutes total! I know I'm not a beauty or hair expert, but speaking as an average consumer I really liked this flat iron and couldn't really point out any major flaws. I'm excited to keep experimenting with it, and try out a few more curling techniques. Thanks again to Misikko! Just so there's a bit of clothes in this post, here's what I wore out the night I used the iron to straighten my hair.

My favourite leopard print tights somehow got a hole in them, then when I pulled them on the hole got HUGE. I decided to just wear them like that anyways, haha!

I looooove this amazing cropped sweater I thrifted a while ago (it had a feather trim neckline, but I cut it off). Long, slight bell sleeve shape, and the fabric is just too weird and too good. Part Alexander Wang, part Liv Tyler in Empire Records. LOVE

Your earrings bamboo, your long nails too

The weather in Winnipeg is a little wierd right now: it's not exactly spring with all the snow still heaped on the sidewalks, but it's definately not winter any more with a few warm(ish) days and lots of sunshine. This has made getting dressed especially boring... I'm sick of sweaters, but can't exactly break out the floral mini dressed just yet. So I've been chanelling my creativity onto my nails instead, and I mentioned a few posts back how eager I was to try some 3D nail designs.

I bought a few things at the dollar store that I figured might come in handy. All you really need is nail glue, tweezers, and some stuff to stick on your nails! The 3D nail QUEEN Selina of Flying Saucer has some great tips on her blog, go check them out!
Let me just say that it was really hard trying to come up with some interesting ideas that actually matched my clothing style, and not all sUpEr KaWaIi~~. NOT to say that I don't love all that super girly, tacky, Japanese street style inspired stuff... I just know that it doesn't really suit me any more.
With that in mind, these two ideas I tried out ARE extremely out of my style bracket... but I just couldn't resist!
I'm not sure how I thought of this or why I did it, but since I don't have any nail art beads I guess I just really wanted to try using sprinkles!

Yes spinkles. As in, on a cupcake. Kind of reminiscent of the A Million Little Pieces book cover, no?

I started out with the lovely lilac Revlon shade I used when I had the claw nails (remember that??)

Then I put a clear polish over top and dropped the sprinkles on top, around the cuticles. Then I used about 3 more coats of clear polish on top... still, that didn't stop water from getting in the cracks and making it all run and fall apart... but hey, the 6 hours I had them on was fun while it lasted!

This next style I started out last night, and finished today. I first used two coats of this very 80s looking powdered pink shade I found in my mom's stash. Then I used 2 more coats on top of this milky topcoat I had, to make it more of a nude, creamy pink. I would have preffered it to look less pink than this, but whatevs... I didn't feel like going out and buying a new colour.

Then I took the pearl stickers from the dollar store and some crystals I bought at a craft store and just glued them on. Even though they're still not "me", I still quite like them!

What do you think, 3D nails still a bit too tacky for you? Or if you have any ideas that would be better suited for a 90's pseudo-goth like myself, then let me know!

Not everybody getting money spending money

I just realized I've got a few outfit shots stashed away, so I'll quickly share before I dash off to go babysit (yes, on a Friday. Why do I agree to these things?? Oh yeah, cos I'm desperate for money...p.s.- I ordered a pair of shoes online today...p.p.s.- they weren't cheap...p.p.p.s- oops)

This is an outfit I threw on going back to class the day after I got back from London. Sometimes the simplist, most slapdash outfits really are the best.

(what is that face... lets call it "the silent nun")
Boy London moto jacket, H&M black maxi dress, snood was a Christmas gift, leopard tights off eBay, thrifted faux Doc Martens

Then I wore this last week to reconnect with my blogging bestie Andrew of Pull Teeth (did everyone see his sexy new Boy London tee??). Although this outfit is essentially just black jeans and a white button up, I just really love it. It's all about this necklace/bodychain I got from Monki in Sweden. I think/hope its a body chain... I don't actually know for sure, but that's how I've been wearing it!



Also this leather blazer! I don't think I've shown it off here before? Most amazing cut, couldn't beleive my eyes when I saw it at Value Village. And it was $20, which for a thrift is pretty steep, but I mean, the thing is just too good to be true!

Thrifted leather blazer, thrifted white shirt, Monki body chain, black skinny jeans from Topshop, Jeffrey Campbell "mummy" wedges

ALSO! You may or may have not noticed, but I reached 500 blog followers! How amazing is that, thank you guys so much! Seriously I cannot even comprehend how many people really read my blog when in my head I think there's only a handful of you (I'm talkin about you commenters, you all get gold stars). But thanks to everyone who reads, comments, follows, tweets, you all are soooooo amazing. And to celebrate, why not buy something from my shop? Bahaha, jk guys... actually no, please buy something. It's so dead over there.

I do my own thing when the phone rings

I didn't buy too much in England, but I did have a few makeup things on my list that I knew I had to get. At the top of my list was LASHES! I only started getting into false eyelashes about two months ago, because I've tried them out a few times in the past but just couldn't get them on right for the life of me! Following the instructions to a t, they still ended up looking wonky or falling off in two seconds. Finally I found a way of putting them on that works for me, in this Youtube video (this girl is amazing, btw). I also found that cutting the lashes to fit my tiny shrimp eyes is VERY IMPORTANT. When in doubt, cut more. And also, I found that waiting 30 seconds for the glue to get sticky was just too long with the lash glue I was using... it dried up really fast, so putting the lashes on when the glue was still a bit wet helped.
I don't know why I'm trying to give you guys beauty tips right now, all I wanted to do was just show you what I bought!

So every girl in England is in love with the Girls Aloud lashes by Eylure, so I knew that with this newfound lashlove I had to stock up on a few pairs to bring home with me. I bought the Nadine and Cheryl ones at Superdrug, which I don't think are the newest style but I just really liked them anyway. When I met up with my friend later that day, he had bought me the Nicola lashes as Nicola is my fav out of the girls... how nice!

I'm also big into lipsticks right now. I knew I wanted to check out the Barry M colours, as I knew that they carry a lot of really pigmented and unusual shades. Now, I know a lot of people think it's horrible, but I love a good orange lip. Not Halloween orange, but I love corals and anything with an orangey hue. I had heard good things about Barry M's orange lipstick so I'm going to give it a go, even just to wear mixed with other colours. It's a bit on the dry side, but I prefer a lipstick to be a bit drier rather than ultra moisturizing. I find really "wet" lipsticks to just slide all over, and sometimes highlights the cracks in your lips, whereas a drier colour kind of "sticks" and goes on more evenly.

The same goes for the Topshop lipstick I bought: a bit on the dry side, but still really good. I wanted to buy this shade, called "vamp", as soon as the Topshop makeup line launched last summer but for some reason I just kept humming and hawing and never ended up buying it before I left England last September. It's similar to the Revlon shade I bought not too long ago, but the Revlon one I think is too slippery, which is especially problematic with a dark shade.
The super cool packaging is a major plus for the Topshop lipstick as well, AND it smells just like berries! The colour itself it a purpley, berry-stained colour, but has a red tinge to it so it kind of reminds me of dried blood when it's on... which sounds horrible, but I love it, haha!

When I got home I also bought the new Lady Gaga Viva Glam lipstick, which is a taupe kind of colour. I haven't gotten to test this one out yet properly, but like first Gaga MAC lipstick it goes on really smooth and smells heavenly.


In other costmetics-related news, I got gel nails last week! I wanted to get them as round as possible, which apparently is a pretty difficult request. It was pretty hilarious actually, I told the woman who did my nails beforehand that I wanted super round gels, then when she got to the shaping stage I kept telling her "rounder... more round... like an oval!". She eventually gave up and handed me off to another girl to finish them off, haha! Here's what they looked like right after I got them done, but the au natural look didn't last long as I was dying to mess them up and stick stuff on them! I started out with matte black all over, with gems only on the thumbs. I've had these for a few days now, and I'm ready to get a bit crazier!

I wonder if someday I'll be good with goodbyes

Ok, let's finish this 3 part trip post garbage! We left London for Sweden on Monday the 21st early in the morning, and since it was only a 2 hour flight and an hour time difference, we arrived at the airport at about 10:30am and got to central Stockholm around noon. Arriving in Stockholm felt really comforting and familiar, not because I've been there before but because there was so much beautiful snow! I well and truly felt at home there, haha.


We didn't have much of an idea of what to expect of the city, nor did we know what we wanted to see or do, so after we got to our hotel we just wandered around the local shopping area. I went to Weekday, which had some great things, and planned to go back to try things on but sadly never made it. After some Thai food for lunch, we kept browsing the shops and then stopped for a coffee and desserts just before it started getting dark.

I tried to take pictures of my coffees and some meals during the whole trip because I think half the fun of travelling is getting to try new foods... so why not document it!

The next day we walked around the city a bit more in the morning, and decided that we didn't want to do the predictable tourist things like bus tours and looking at churches, so we decided to go a children's museum near the city's center called Junibacken. If you couldn't tell yet from reading my blog, I am basically a child in an adult's body. I don't think I'll ever fully "grow up" (whatever that means) and I love children's stories now as much as I did when I was younger. I also have a big thing for Pippi Longstocking (see my Twitter button on the sidebar!). Junibacken is a children's museum dedicated mostly to the children's author Astrid Lindgren, the author of the Pippi stories, but had all kinds of things to see that involved the characters and stories of other authors as well. This place was so magical, and I don't want to unload all the pictures I took here, so this is just a sample of what we saw there.









After the museum we headed back to our hotel, but I knew I HAD to visit Monki before we left the next day. We knew there was one not too far from the hotel, but had to hunt for a bit (and ask around) to find it. It was worth it! It was a smaller Monki store but still had a lot of great stuff. I just picked up a few things, which you'll see eventually!
We thought we had to be at the airport for 3pm the next day, but just as we were falling asleep my friend jumped out a bed because she remembered we were actually supposed to be there for 12pm! Good thing she remembered!
Airport coffee!

So after the flight it was straight to Paddington station to catch our train to Plymouth (going to stay at my friend's flat, who's there on a student exchance type things).
Train coffee!

Now, we ended up staying in Plymouth for the last 3 days of the trip instead of going back to London, because it was just nice to hang out with my bestie, see where she lives, where she works, meet her friends, etc. The last few days were really fun and just chilled out, so there wasn't much to take pictures of... we did end up going to see The Sats again though, haha!
Here are some pictures from the seaside when we walked down there one day. A really lovely scene, especially for a Canadian prairie girl like myself.




Let's sneak in an outfit shot to finish this up, shall we?

Wearing a cardigan from Monki, H&M circle scarf, thirfted creepers ,bag, and denim shorts, tights off of eBay.
The Monki cardigan is so great, with the loop fringe shoulder pad type detail... and it was on sale! This was actully my main Stockholm purchase, as I only brought a carry-on so major shopping wasn't in the plan!

So that's pretty much it! Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of what I saw, but I also hope you're ready for me to get back to some regular posting... I know I am!