One for the Night Owls

It's gone 2am, my attic room is like a sauna in uncharacteristically Mediterranean England, and I can't sleep.
The obvious thing to do was blog!

If truth be told, I have rather a lot on my mind tonight.
Primarily, my money (ie. a lack of being able to shop freely for ridiculous dresses and heels I don't need) woes, job hunting woes, and woes about the fact that I know I'm going to have to get up early in the morning to straighten my hair before work, because heat and my hair just don't get on.

And instead of doing anything pro-active with my insomnia, I got distracted in the kitchen by my housemate/best friend Sam, and we had a good old natter in hushed tones for over an hour and a half and put the world to right.
Suddenly, sitting on our kitchen floor (I'm not really sure why...I'm poor, but I do have a living room...) the world was put to right and I'm happy as Larry. Even though he still won't let me have a puppy.
And I figured if I can share my love for Union Jack nail art on the internet, surely I can share my love for a person.
So here we are; Sam and I at the QVC summer party 2010, when I had awful goth-coloured hair and pale vampire-esque skin (not the sparkling in the sun kind).
Horrendous hair, horrendous over-exposure, yummy candyfloss, and a whole lotta love.

Incidentally, if any of you do happen to read this all the way to completion without vomiting over my ridiculous gushing, please do pop a comment below and suggest an insomnia cure? I'd be forever grateful!

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Eurovision, and the beginning of a Nail Art obsession

Eurovision is undoubtedly one of my favourite events of the year, which my uni housemate Georgy and I celebrate every year. In fact, I'm on route to her house as I type.

So with Eurovision arriving and my new obsession with nail art, I thought I'd combine the two! And let's face it, 2012 is a year to be patriotic!

I first tried out this Union Jack nail art on Calvin, a fellow Disney intern, who wanted just one nail done for a Eurovision party tonight. For a first attempt, I'm quite chuffed, an from the look of it, so was Calvin!

I used Barry M for the blue base (I like this one, as it has a shimmer to it) and then white and red nail art pens that I bought for a bargain price on eBay.

Really easy to do in three simple steps:
1. Do a couple of coats of the base blue. Allow to dry
2. With the white nail art pen, draw a thick cross along the centre, and then draw the thinner diagonal lines.
3. Once the white has dried, draw the red lines on top of the white cross and diagonals you drew. It's easier to do it this way than to outline the red with white, unless you have a really steady hand!

Et voila! Patriotic nails!
I haven't quite mastered the steady hand necessary for this yet, but practice makes perfect!

What do you think? Have any better methods?
I'm constantly looking for inspiration, so what else would you like to see on your nails?

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Umberto Giannini Salon Straight

During a big old rummage through my four boxes of back-up toiletries (the overflow from the crammed bathroom cabinet) I stumbled across this little product. I bought this a while ago as product number three of a Boots 3 for 2 offer and haven't really looked at it since.

My hair is very thick, and very frizzy, and so when I found a successful means of taming it (GHD straighteners and LOTS of serum) I stuck to it.
But one Saturday, when I had a quiet afternoon of no plans I decided to test something new in the next stage of the ongoing 'find a quick and easy way to tame my lion's mane' mission.

This product from Umberto Giannini advertises itself as a 'Blow Dry Cream'. I followed the stylists tip on the back and towel dried all excess water from my hair before spreading this through evenly and blow drying.

 The cream itself is a lot watery than I was expecting, having expected a similar texture to a thicker serum but this was a real bonus as it meant it spread evenly, and didn't leave you with fear of a serum-y, overly-glossy clump. (We've all been there!)

Have to say, I was dead chuffed with the results. As you can see below in the before and after pictures, my hair is very naturally curly and thick, so to get this result without having to subject it to horrendous amounts of heat was very exciting.

BEFORE

AFTER

My poor hair gets put through a lot being straightened every day, and so I will definitely be using this product again to give it a well-earned day off.

The slight waves that it left my hair with meant it looked great styled with some salt spray to give it a tousled, straight off the beach look!

Hopefully this review will help anybody else with the same frizzy hair predicament as myself!
What products do you use to tame your mane, and give your hair a break from heat?

Love and kisses,
Holly Salts

Smile Because It Happened

Since I've finally had my phone and laptop sorted (It's been a very unfortunate and expensive technical month), I've had a lot of catching up to do on my blog reading, and it's come to my attention that many of the entries I've read this week have all shared a theme: Finishing uni.

At first, this made me feel quite old, so after a quick check for grey hairs (I found some a week before my 22nd birthday - it was so distressing I'm sure it encouraged a few more to turn silver) I started thinking back to this time a year ago, and I realized how much my life has changed.

For starters, I got my first full-time job (admittedly an internship, but it has a per annum salary so it counts) as a Production Intern at The Disney Channel. And anyone who knows me at all, will know that this is a dream job for me. I'm a big kid at heart, and so a job that entails making cartoons on a daily basis makes me a very happy  Holly!

For the first six months I commuted and spent five long hours a day on a train. This was so painful, that despite my relatively low income I decided to spend the extra money, and moved up to the big city in February of this year. 

Now my internship has nearly come to an end, I've finally (after nearly thee years) managed to get myself out of my student overdraft and I live in a plush flat in suburban Chiswick. I'm still struggling, and I'm definitely still starting out, but I'm happy with how much I've achieved in a year, and cannot wait to start looking around for the next exciting opportunity!

And the best thing about all this reminiscing is that the friends I made at uni that I hoped I'd stay in contact with are still in my life now. And occasionally, we still act like students!

BATV, One Year On

So congratulations to all of you who have just finished your dissertation and exams!

Speaking as someone who well and truly started at the bottom, I can assure you that you have so much to look forward to!

Love and kisses,

Holly Salts