15 random facts about me tag

I've been tagged by the lovely Siobhan to do this, which is great because I haven't done a tag in ages.  You can check out her beautiful blog here - *starsglittermagic*

Rules: come up with 15 random facts about yourself and share them with the blog world!

After doing this post tag 5 other bloggers to do it too

Facts

1. I'm 5"2 tall with size 4 feet

2. I was never allowed any pets as a child - not even a goldfish :(

3. I have been going out with my bf for eight and a half years

4. My favourite colour is purple

5. My most annoying habit is correcting or pointing out people's grammatical mistakes

6. I have a collection of over 100 Stitches (from Disney's Lilo and Stitch)

7. I like baking cupcakes and other treats for the people I work with

8. I'm greedy and indecisive which means I often waste money buying one of every colour dress / nail varnish / pair of shoes etc

9. I'm quite insecure and self-concious but I try to hide it with laughter and sarcasm

10. I'm probably a bit too old to have a blog... 26.  And nobody I know in real life knows I have a blog (I think!!)

11. I dropped out of Uni after 6 weeks (Performing Arts at Goldsmiths)

12. I'm a good friend and try to never let people down or break a promise

13. My hair never stays curly.  Ever.  No matter what.

14. I hate being cold and have my slanket glued to me at all times at home in Winter

15. I love snooping blogs and writing posts - it gives me a lovely creative outlet which I don't get in my 9-5 financial services job! 

Okay, so some of them weren't very random, but they're what sprang to mind!

And because I can't allow a post to go out without its make-up on... a little Hello Froggy for you =)
.

I'm tagging....

Anna

Caroline

Daisy

Sarah

Amanda

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My blog has changed name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle

If you're already following, your sub will have updated to the new name, but the URL will be wrong, so you might not see my posts in your reading list (and that makes me sad).

To fix this, please click follow again. You won't be following me twice or following two blogs, your sub will just update to the new URL - schimples.

Sorry, for being a trouble maker, but I really wanted to change the name!

Thanks for reading and following, Gem xx
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Christmas loot!

I just wanted to do a quick post on what I got for Christmas, so here's the loot!

Look at al that Soap and Glory - I don't think I'll ever need to set foot in Boots ever again!  You can also see in the purple box my new Nails Inc gift set, I love their polishes and get a Christmas set every year. 

Twilight books!  Can't wait to read these!  My friend got me a cupcake stand which is brilliant, she knows I love making cupcakes.  I've also got the new Nigella book and my DKNY bag and purse which came from the outlet in Oxford.

More cookbooks and more Boots gift sets!  There's a little Kerropi thing in there too - he's my new obsession.  He's from the Hello Kitty range and I like to call him Hello Froggy!  I also got a massive yanky candle which will last me until next Christmas I hope!

Here's a close up of my gingerbread man candle snuffer because he's so cute!

And my Lush haul!  Woo I'm going to smell sooo good!  I actually got two of the Gingerbread house gift sets (from different people, obvs!).  I must have dropped too many hints about that one!

I also got my two new Mac lipsticks which I've blogged about seperately and some Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner which is not pictured because it's already in my bathroom.  The other main thing I got which isn't shown is my dwarf hamsters!  They're still too young and scared of humans to be picked up properly yet so I can't photograph them very well and don't want to scare them with funny noises and flashes!  Once they're more used to me I'll do a post on them - they're the cutest little furballs ever!

I'm so pleasedwith everything I got, I won't need to go shopping for a long time, which is lucky because I've already spent nearly all of my January pay on Christmas and the sales, ooops.

I'm not sure what the ettiquette is with showing your Christmas presents - I hope nobody flames me for being a showoff or anything, but if you feel the need, whatever!  These are all the presents I got from everybody that I know so that includes the bf, family, extended family, friends and work colleagues. 

Anyway, I do know how to share because I'm having a Christmas giveaway!  If  you haven't entered yet, please do.  I think I may have been a little too cryptic making it a complete mystery giveaway so here are some clues to some of the little treasures you'll find all wrapped in pretty paper if you're one of my lucky winners...

One of the parcels smells really nice even through the paper...

There are a few items with a little sparkle and bling to them ...

One or two of the things would go nicely in your make-up bag...

Some of it might be edible...

You get the idea! 

Here's the link to the competition blog post - please enter on there and not any other post.  Here you'll also find the rules for entering on twitter too - there will be one winner from blogger and one from twitter.  Good luck!

*****************************************************

My blog has changed name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle

If you're already following, your sub will have updated to the new name, but the URL will be wrong, so you might not see my posts in your reading list (and that makes me sad).

To fix this, please click follow again. You won't be following me twice or following two blogs, your sub will just update to the new URL - schimples.

Sorry, for being a trouble maker, but I really wanted to change the name!

Thanks for reading and following, Gem xx
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New lipstick love

Being me, I haven't gotten around to taking pics of my Crimbo prezzies yet, but to be fair I did have to go back to work today :(

One of my best presents has to be the new Mac make-up I got.  I haven't tried it all out yet other than for my Cut a Caper lipstick.  It looks like a really bright coral in the tube, but it's a much more sheer and forgiving shade when it's applied. 

I've taken a picture and a swatch and I've even taken a picture of it on my lips - 10 out of 10 for effort surely?!  I don't have a special whizzy bloggers camera as you can tell - just a regular pink Sony one :)

My eyeliner looks a bit wiggly here but in my mirror it looked nearly perfect.  I'm carefully perfecting my eyeliner technique by trying out wings every day.  I'm not a natural at this, but I'm starting to get it a bit.  I'm using Maybelline express liner pen.  I've given up on using Mac fluidline as it always transfers to my upper lid no matter what I do and that's so not a good look.  At least the Maybelline one stays where I put it.

I also got Faerie Glen lipstick, Coral Lassies lipgloss set and Zoom fast black lash mascara so I'm keen to try these out and snap some piccies.

I took these photos last night as I was wearing my new lipstick for an evening in with my two best friends.  We swapped our Christmas presents and stuffed lots of party food, chocolate gateau and a few cocktails made with my newish blender.  I've always found making your own cocktails at home a bit of a let-down before, but now I have the secret - smushed ice!  We made some strawberry margaritas and our own chocolate orange concoction - mmm!

I got lovely gifts from these two including a Lush gingerbread house, a massive yankee candle in "sparkling snow" fragrance and a cupcake stand - they know me so well.  I was particularly touched by the candle from James, seeing as he's a boy and all.  Much better than my bf could have picked without help!

I didn't get a pic of my outfit but I was wearing some head bling which looked like this...

I like to jazz up my head now that I have my short hair.

If you haven't entered my Christmas giveaway yet, please do.... click to win pretty stuff!

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My blog has changed name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle

If you're already following, your sub will have updated to the new name, but the URL will be wrong, so you might not see my posts in your reading list (and that makes me sad).

To fix this, please click follow again. You won't be following me twice or following two blogs, your sub will just update to the new URL - schimples.

Sorry, for being a trouble maker, but I really wanted to change the name!

Thanks for reading and following, Gem xx
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Christmas / new year giveaway - wooo!

I've been thinking about the possibility of having a giveaway for a little while and I've now decided to have one to celebrate my blog's new name :)
An idea sprang to me the other night to do a giveaway with a little twist - the twist is it's a mystery giveaway! The items that make up the prize are wrapped up like Christmas presents and nobody will know what they are until the winner receives their booty! Fun huh?

I'm far too disorganized and bad at maths to have any complicated rules or to give extra entries for tweets so I have come up with a sneaky plan... There are two giveaway prizes! 

Prize 1 can be won by being a follower of my blog and commenting below that you'd like to win.  It'd also be nice if you told me what the best Crimbo prezzie was that you got this year.  Also feel free to link away to your own blog - I'm always looking to find lovely new blogs to snoop. 

Prize 2 is for twitter followers.  All you need to do is be a follower of @tweetiegem and re-tweet one of my tweets about the giveaway - schimples!

The giveaway is open to all blog and twitter followers old and new and I will pick the winner using the random number generator.  The prize will be posted to winners anywhere in the UK.  I don't want to exclude international followers, so if you live outside the UK, feel free to enter, but if you win I might need to ask you to pay something towards the shipping to your country if it's pricey.

Get entering!  The giveaway will close at midnight on Thursday 6 January.  Good luck! x

*****************************************************
My blog has changed name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle

If you're already following, your sub will have updated to the new name, but the URL will be wrong, so you might not see my posts in your reading list (and that makes me sad).

To fix this, please click follow again. You won't be following me twice or following two blogs, your sub will just update to the new URL - schimples.

Sorry, for being a trouble maker, but I really wanted to change the name!

Thanks for reading and following, Gem xx
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xx flutter and sparkle xx

Just a quick post to clear up any confusion I may have just created....

I've changed my blog's name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle!

The main reason for doing this is that when I started the blog my intention was that it would provide tips and advice for other size fourteens and I haven't really stayed true to that aim at all.  My blog is just a bit of a mish-mash of fashion, beauty, sometimes home, occasionally baking and mainly it's just a random collection of my thoughts or moans!  So I decided I didn't want to be realfourteen any more and I've picked a suitably frivolous name to match the general content I spew out :)  It also reflects my love of butterflies and all things bling.

I'm still working on my new layout - if anyone knows how to get rid of the sharp corners on my header, let me know!

Here's to a fluttery and sparkly 2011 of reinventions xx

*****************************************************
My blog has changed name from realfourteen to flutter and sparkle

If you're already following, your sub will have updated to the new name, but the URL will be wrong, so you might not see my posts in your reading list (and that makes me sad).

To fix this, please click follow again. You won't be following me twice or following two blogs, your sub will just update to the new URL - schimples.

Sorry, for being a trouble maker, but I really wanted to change the name!

Thanks for reading and following, Gem xx
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It's Chriiiiistmaaaas!

I love Christmas! Yesterday was so much fun opening presents and stuffing our faces whilst watching tv. 

I woke up at home with the bf and cooked him some breakfast.  Then we got dressed up all Christmassy and went round to my Mum's for a massive turkey dinner and had presents with the family.  After dinner my Mum and I had a little browse of the sales online (there really wasn't much to be had) and before we knew it it was time for me and the bf to leave as we had his parents coming for tea. 

The dinner... OMG!

We had a nice relaxed evening of more presents and some party / picky food while we watched the soaps.

Here's a posey picture of me showing what I wore for Crimbo day.

The top is a furry black and ever so slightly sparkly cardigan from French Connection and the skirt is red rose textured and from Primark.

Here's a close up of my nails for the day.  It doesn't come up so well in the pictures but in real life it's gorgeously cherry red and sparkly!

You can also see my Crimbo bling in these pictures!  The chunky bling in the first pic is a set of two stacking pavé diamante rings from Peacocks.  They were only £4 and I love the OTT-ness of them, I'me sure they'll go green and the stones will drop out soon, but I'm enjoying them while they last.  In the second pic you can't see it in it's full glory, but it's a massive square purple stone surrounded by lots of fake bling which I bought from Warren James for £25.  This one is actually silver and CZ so it might last a bit longer!

For the nails I used a coat of Nails Inc Eaton Mews followed by a layer of Bazza M Red Glitter (150) and then another coat on top of the Eaton Mews. 

I'll be back soon with a "what I got for Christmas" type post once I've taken all the photos. 

I was going to do a massive post on my Christmas party look (it was last Friday) but I ended up so dissapointed with how everything turned out!  I tried curling my short hair and it was just a disaster as it dropped and looked all very sorry for itself!  I still haven't found the secret to making my hair hold curls whichever way I do them.  Also, I felt really self-concious in my dress as it creased so easily and it felt a bit tight too - oops!  In all honesty, realfourteen is pushing a realsixteen these days and I'm planning to get back into Slimming World in January and I have a friend who wants to join the gym with me.  but for now...  it's Christmas and there's a lot of chocolate to be eaten!

Lastly here's a pic of me and the bf at my Mum's.  I really like this photo and I'm going to put it up in a frame.  You can also slightly see in this one that I've dyed my hair a bit red.  I'd also tried out a bit of back-combing and side-fringe nonsense for the day, but as I'm utterly rubbish with hair it came out okay but the back-combing sort of dropped out after lunch!  I don't think I was harsh enough with it or used enough hairspray.  One of my new years resolutions needs to be to get more clued up on styling my hair!

I hope you're all having a wonderful Crimbo.  I'm off to get dressed for Boxing Day - I have the fam coming round and I'm cooking a glazed ham - eek! xx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I've spent 5 hours putting up my Christmas decs today, so I thought I'd share the results!  The 5 hours did include getting them all out of the cupboards, untangling lights etc and a little bit of cleaning before putting them up!

I love Christmas and can't believe my decs weren't up already, I'm not sure what was wrong with me this year and why I didn't get around to it before.  I can be so lazy sometimes :os

So I'll star at the front door...

I made both of these decorations.  The wreath a couple of years ago and the star one on the door I made today, although all I really did was tie some baubles onto a gold star and hang it with ribbon.

We're going to put some lights up outside too, but not until tomorrow.

Light-up gold wicker type tree in my hallway

Golden ribbon and bead garland up the stairs with purple and gold baubles hanging down - they go all the way down the stairs but I didn't take a wide enough photo, duh.  On the right I have a peg card hanger, but it only has one card on it so far!

And on the wall in my hallway, one of my favourite decs, my colourful bauble wreath.  When I first bought this it was to go on the front door, but I got worried it would be stolen so I keep it inside!

Onto the front room... here's the tree.  I like to think of it as clashing with style!  It's got lots of different colours in it, but the baubles do match / coordinate with eachother!  I love the purple LED lights and you can just about see some tiny Christmas stockings on their too.  It's a little tradition my boyfriend and I started up a couple of years ago that we get eachother a really small presents to fit inside.  It's easy for him to put something like earrings in there but I find it really hard to find him something to fit.

Some Christmassy candles - well not really but one of them is star-shaped and another is a snowball

This one's a bit blurry, Shouldn't have used my iphone.  It's a bauble tree from Next, I've wanted one of these for ages and bought it this year.  It's sitting next to the fireplace.

This is the mantlepiece above the fire.  I've got some bronze / gold cream ornaments on the right which are there year round, then on the left there are gold flock candles and in the middle my NOEL letters.  My brother always messes them around when he visits and changes it to LEON or anything else he can think of.

On the mirror I've hung three glitter reindeer decorations from a gold ribbon.

And finally the dining room

This is the fire in my dining room which I've adorned with some fluffy snowball lights and another word ornament.  This time it's WISH and sorry little bro, but these ones are stuck together and can't be messed with!

I got a bit carried away with my decorating and decided to set the table a little bit.  The purple glasses are new, so I wanted to see how they fit in.  I've also got a purple bauble tree in the centre, a purple hurricane candle and a round glass bowl filled with baubles and tiny lights.

I put some napkins out so that I could play with my snowflake napkin rings as they only come out once a year!

This is the back of one of the chairs.  I wrapped some purple and gold ribbon around and fastened it with a silver glitter butterfly.

There are also a couple of bits up in the kitchen, just some fairy lights and another word ornament of JOY in red, but not exciting enough for a photo!

I'm feeling really Christmassy now, bring on the food and presents!

Is everyone else excited for Crimbo? xx

Short hair =s

It's nearly two months since I went for a massive chop, and I'm still not sure I'm a short hair girl...
This was my hair at its longest

a bit straggly and in need of a cut

I had a massive fringe for a bit

This is how I've had it for the past year or so... shortest in a long while

And this is the drastic new chop!  Drastic for me anyway, I've not had hair this short in about 10 years!

I really wanted to have a short cut, but I'm finding it really hard to style into anything other than just hanging straight.  I dream of being able to create some of the styles Danni Minogue's been rocking on xfactor, although without her stylist I've got no chance!

What do you think - long or short and any tips for making shorter hair more interesting?

What's on my Christmas list?

I can't wait to get my Christmas presents!  I know that sounds super selfish, but all my money's been blown on other people's gifts lately, so I'm having to wait until the big day to get all the things I've been wanting for ages!  Here's a selection of what I hope Santa will leave under my tree =)

MAC "A Tartan Tale" goodies - Coral capers lip gloss set and Cut a caper and The faerie glen lip sticks

Nigella and Jamie Oliver new cook books

Boss orange sunset perfume

Loadsa Lush Christmas bits

 

Loadsa Lush by smallpo on Polyvore.com

Ferne Cotton make-up brushes

Ted Baker candles

Urban Decay book of shadows NYC

Wii dance 2

Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner

I also can't wait for sale shopping.  I'm trying to hold off buying anything for me from myself  until the sales start!

What's top of your Christmas list?  I'd love to know x

Wrapping up for Winter

Can you believe that despite all the crazy weather we've been having I haven't got a winter coat?  I really feel the cold too, I was wearing a mac in August!  I just had trouble finding anything I like so I've been relying on a black mac and on the days it was really cold and during the snow I wore my yellow duffle coat from last year.  It's really worn out so I only wore it when I absolutely had to!

I've now finally ordered this from Next.  It's not really what I was looking for but it's a pretty coat and I like the colour. 

I'm going to go to Primark tomorrow and get some contrasting teal green gloves and a scarf.  Hopefully they have some left - Primark usually have all their beachwear out by January!

November favourites

Okay, so this is my first 'favourites' blog post.  I've decided to do it because I've been so out of the loop lately with my bff's wedding and then my bf's big birthday and holiday that I'll never catch up on all the posts I wanted to do, so I'll get them out there as favourites instead!

My new watch

I've been wearing this constantly since I got it (except on hols!) and I absolutely heart it.  Some people just don't get it and have been calling me Mr T, but the joke's on them, cos it's fab!  When I was in Edinburgh I had my nails done and the girl who did them was like "oh my God that's my watch!" and called the other therapist over to see it cos she's saving up to get one herself.  I love it and I knew some people wouldn't get it, but that didn't bother me.  "What's the time?"  "Oh, it's just coming up to a quarter past Marc!"  haha!

My new hair

Aaaargh I've had all my hair cut off.  I don't really know why, it just sort of happened.  I regret it a bit, but it's nice and different and hair grows.  I haven't even actually got a picture of it looking good enough to show!  I'm trying to work out some edgey styles I can do with it - Danni has exciting hair on xfactor every week, need her stylist!  I also rather fancy dying it a rich red, but will everyone think I'm copying Cheryl Cole?

Shellac manicure

So I got Shellac done when I was in Edinburgh two days before I went on holiday.  I liked the effect and the idea that it would last 2 - 3 weeks, but the application was not good.  It looked okay in the salon, but out in daylight I could see lots of mistakes which I really couldn't deal with.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and thought I could have done it better myself!  It peeled off literally my first day on the beach, so I had to take it all off which was a big waste of the £35 I paid to get it done.  I think it was my fault when I 'tidied up' the edges, that's probably what caused the peeling, but the main cause was the poor application.  I'm thinking about looking into getting the kit and having a bit of a diy. 

Trash telly

I'm missing The only way is Essex, can't wait for it to come back at the end of the year.  It's proper trash, guilty pleasure tv and Mark is so hot (but a complete arsehole too!).  It's just too funny.

I'm also right into The Apprentice and obvs Xfactor, although I hate to say i've got a little bit bored at some points this year, they can really drag it out sometimes.  Thank goodness Wagner's gone, it was really making a mockery of the whole thing.  I'd be happy to see any of the final 5 win other than Mary who I don't quite get.

I've also been watching a series called The Event on channel 4.  It's wicked.  If you likd Lost, 24, Flash Forward and that sort of thing, you'll love this.  The main guy is pretty dishy too :)

Pandora

There was a pandora shop on my holiday and I loved some of the rings that they do.  They have some really pretty ones and some that you can stack together.  I just found them too expensive though, and you know you're just paying for the name.  It was more than £100 for a simple silver ring with a little bit of Cubic Zirconia in it, so to get a few too stack together would be really pricey.  I'm keeping my eyes peeled for something similar.  I've been really into gold since I got my watch, so I think that's why I liked that ring in particular.  My bf's getting my some stackable rings in silver from Fiorelli.

Looking at the Pandora stuff inspired me to dig out the pandora bracelet (replica) that my friend got me last Christmas.  I didn't like all of the charms she chose and also would prefer a completely full bracelet, so I went on to ebay and got some cheapy beads to fill it up.

Revlon colorstay foundation for oily/combination skin

I'm getting on rather well with this.  I can have very bad luck with foundations, bad shades or ones which streak or don't last more than a few hours.  This one's not perfect, but it's the best I've used in a long while.  The staying power is good, although the shine does still break through.  I've just repurchased, which is unusual for me.

Nars blush in Orgasm

I've used this every day since I got it and love it to bits, I'm so glad I bought it.  I'll be so sad when I hit the pan, but will definately buy another right away!

Nina by Nina

I bought this at Gatwick and am loving the smell.  It's a bit of a Summer fragrance, so maybe I'm a little late with it, but I've still got that post-holiday glow so this is helping me stretch it out a bit too! It's a really sweet and girly smell, and such a pretty bottle too.  I recommend you go have a sniff!

New purchases

I actually bought these on my phone while I was away as the crave to shop was just so intense!  I got these wonderous topshop shoes which I was craving last year.  I didn't want to fork out the £65 for them and by the time I'd decided to buy them and had the money to do it they were sold out.  Thank goodness for good old eBay!  I got them from a shop seller so they're brand new and have all sizes and colours and just £30.  I'm tempted to get the black too.

Something else I'd had my eye on for so long is this sideways cross necklace.  I saw it on Taylor on the Rachel Zoe project and loved it, then a while back lollipop26 got one and it'd kind of been lingering in my eBay watch items for a while.  I'd been quite broke following the wedding and birthday so hadn't bought much but as I was on holiday technically not spending any money (see the logic?), I thought I'd get it.  It's really nice on, just the right size and I really like it.  The only sad thing is that it turns over a lot and the non-shiny side isn't so nice :(

That's all my favourites for now, I enjoyed that.  :)