Thursday 7 June 2012

Super summer give away!

Super Summer Giveaway. 

Revlon Nail Varnish, Tea Pot Necklace and Cupcake Lip Balm

Thursday 07/06/2012 - Saturday 23/06/2012


It's time to start my super summer Giveaway!!  I'm so very excited to share these gifts with  my readers!








I want to thank you all for following my blog and leaving such lovely comments for me every day. Unfortunately I can't give you all something but for one lucky person I'm giving the chance to own a few goodies (based on something I wouldn't mind winning) :
A pastel pink Nail Varnish. It is revlon and revlon is obviously a good expensive brand, Costing £6.99
A cupcake lip balm: Because I know us bloggers love little quirky unique items
Along with a Necklace. Again it looks unique. Its a china tea cup. I know how us bloggers also Love our Tea

To enter the giveaway:
(3 entry's- This is the only step that must happen for an entry, without this step you are not entered) Follow my blog through Google and leave a comment with your email address 

For extra entries:
(1 extra) Mention the giveaway in a tweet mentioning me: @I_Have_a_fro
(2 extra) Follow me through Bloglovin'
(5 extra) Mention the giveaway in a blog post

Good luck! 
The giveaway ends Saturday 23rd June and the winner will be announced as soon as possible (within 2 working days)

Recent Purchases,

I realise this is the first time i've posted in a couple of daysm which isn't like me, I like to blog 2-3 times a day to make sure my followers are up to date with what I think is going on, i sincerely apologise for my lack of blogging!

I have been really busy. Studying for my Maths exams that are coming up and generally just relaxing with my friends. 

I have however found time to shop, and probably have steam coming off my bank card the amount of money i have spent in recent days! I thought i'd share some of my purchases with you. Most of you will realise that a LOT of the things i've bought have been quite popular amongst the blogging community lately and after reading such good reviews i've wanted in on a lot of it! other things i've just seen and liked the look of myself.



I'm absolutely loving the MUA range at Superdrug at the moment, after purchasing a bronzer and some of the lipsticks i was intrigued to try some other bits and bobs and with such a cheap pricetag on everything there really is no excuse! The nail polishes were £1 each and so far i have tried the bright pink one on the left and been extremely impressed with it! It was a such a good consistancy, really light and easy to apply and the colour pigmentation is suprising. I expected to need a fair few coats of this but it's safe to say i could easily have left it at just one. Fantastic little polish for a quick fix night out or something but of course stays on much better with a 2-3 coats. I am yet to try the other colours but the green is very unusual!

------

The eyeshadow palette is the heaven and earth palette that i have been recommended countless times and thought i might as well give it a go. It was £4 and is gorgeous mix of neutral colours that will be great for day wear and also to build a smokey eye for a night out. Really excited to experiment with this one! 


Most of you bloggers will be no stranger to this foundation and i've been dying to give some new brands and types a go. I have read such good things about Rimmel Wake Me Up that i have high hopes for it working wonders on my own face! It was £8.99 in Boots, however they are still running the offer where if you spend over £10 on Rimmel products you receive the Scandaleyes Mascara for free (worth £6.99) I'm a sucker for a bargain and quite fancied trying this mascara as the brush is similar to my trusty Bourjois Volume Clubbing so i went for it, picking up a Lasting Finish 1000 Kisses in Nothing But Nude (£5.99) to seal the deal. I have invested in a lip pen before and found it really dried my lips out so when Rimmel brought this one out with the balm end i thought it really solved a problem. I am forever trying on the testers whilst i'm out and think the colours are fantastic but opted for this deep orange colour as i have pink lip products coming out of my ears! Again, very excited to get trying all of these - especially the foundation!


I have had my converse for a couple of months but only just really started wearing them. So i'm going to class them as a recent purchase... To be honest I actually used to hate Converse! When they first became popular i thought of them as like "weird mosher shoes" haha. Being the super cool kid i was wouldn't have been seen dead in a pair. However they've really grown on my over the years especially the lower ankle ones! These were £40 from Schuh. They are so comfortable and will get a lot of wear with shorts and dresses now that it is summer! I've also got my eye on the blue pair too!

------------

Those are only some of what I have bought. I went shopping with Ginger Ecstasy only 2 days ago. I have not found the time to upload them yet. But don't worry I will at some point in the near future. So keep an eye out on my blog for them

Hope the rain is finally clearing off for most of you
We were actually almost free of the wet stuff today :O

I will also be doing some reviews on all this stuff very soon once i've got to grips with it!

------------

Much Love

Abbie x

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Bikini Season



I don't mean to instil horror in you all but yep it's officially bikini season

These are a few of my current favourites that I'm going to try and get my grubby paws on ready for my holiday in August. I think H&M are absolutely killing it on the swimwear front this year. I definitely need to stop buying boxes upon boxes of chocolate and start kicking the crap and start going to the gym a little more. Oh god, Help me ;) 

What do you think to my choices? 
Have you seen any beautiful bikinis lately?


Blogging on the go

Hi, just a really quick blog post. I'm out at the minute shopping with my friend Rebecca (gingerecstasy.com) and i'm going to buy some things I can upload as a giveaway. As I have no idea what sort of things you want to see as a prize please can you just comment with what you want.

Thanks. Love Abbie.

Monday 4 June 2012

Watching our Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert.



Almost all the worldwide trending topics on twitter are about the concert, some of the comments are hilarious, we are Great Britain and we do what we want!
Jimmy Carr and Lee Mack are on, that’s like a bonfire in a paper factory, they’ve clearly been told to behave themselves, and are duly ignoring it and just slagging The Royal Family :’)
Brian May is sitting in one of the balcony box seats, hoping all of Queen will be on later, presumably with Paul Rogers leading.
Gary Barlow looks great, as usual.
Only we could have a world class opera singer (Who looks like Richard Speight Jr.) on and instead of recalling that the song is from Les Misrables we remember it as the bloody cornetto advert song :’)
Jules Holland has been on, Tom Jones will be on later.
I’m sitting here thinking ‘WHERE THE HELL IS TOM HIDDLESTON, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, STEVEN FRY AND SEAN CONNERY!?’
Grace Jones was just on, she’s got to be 60, and she was in a Vegas dancers outfit, doing the hula-hoop while she belted some of her greatest soul songs, she did some amazing stuff for the old James Bond soundtracks. Clearly mental but what a singer!
Ed Sheeran has just been on, sounding great :)

A Few Questions & Answers

How would you define your style?
This used to be one of the most difficult questions for me to answer, but I tend to keep giving the same response: It is nearly impossible to concretely describe my style. It changes and grows just as much as I do as a person. But hey, that’s what makes it personal right? But if I had to use a couple of words to describe it more clearly I’d say it’s trendy, fashion-forward and eclectic.

What inspired you to start a style blog? What motivates you to keep blogging?
I recently just realized that I’ve been blogging a lot longer than I had originally thought. I started used Twitter about 3 years ago and always did it more as a hobby, so it wasn’t anything too serious. However upon leaving school and entering a new chapter of my life, I became very influenced by the arts and fashion I started my first blog. I thought it was kind of counter-productive to start a personal style blog since there were so many out there already, however I was urged by readers and friends to start a personal style blog and thus iHaveAfro was born.

Who/what inspires you?
My fellow fashion bloggers are my main source of style inspiration, they have the most real and personal take on the trends. Aside from that being a shopaholic definitely has it’s benefits… You are constantly inspired… I’m not exaggerating.

What advice do you have for new bloggers or people considering starting a blog?
Honestly, we are living in a digital age so it’s really hard to not be influenced or inspired by the internet, but if you’re going to start a blog, really make sure you are clear as to why you are doing it. I know a lot of people who blog because they see the benefits that come from becoming successful, but what I’ve learned is that the key to true success comes with having personal and singular voice and vision. People tend to become drawn to others who emulate that– everything else just comes organically. And in terms of visual aspects of the blog I would make sure the aesthetic reflects who you are and is simple and easy to navigate… Otherwise people will become overwhelmed!

Your first thought in the morning?
I don’t really think in the morning, I don’t have enough energy to do that haha! I just kind of do things… and then eventually wake up and embrace the day as best I can!

What is your favorite thing to do when not blogging?
I’m the kind of person who needs to always be doing something, so luckily living in a city allows for this kind of go go go mentality. I love shopping, going to concerts, hanging with friends and traveling! It all really depends on the weather and if I have money to do certain things.

For you, what is the world’s most fashionable city?
I would really Like to say New York, But I don't know if I'm biassed as I have loved the city since I have been tiny. I really do hope one day I can go there and go on a massive spending spree. I mean I haven't really travelled but I think that's due to my age. I have been to Paris and other major cities and I think it’s fair to say that each city has a group of individuals who emulate their personal style and create a sensibility that is influenced by their culture. It really depends, I don’t think I can fairly answer this question– because what I may consider fashionable, may seem atrocious to someone else!

How would you describe fashion in the city where you live?
You really never know what you’re going to get when you see people on the street… and that can be a good or bad thing! Generally I think I live in quite a fashionable city and it directly influences my own style, but I also think certain groups of people dress a certain way based on the area they live in, which is interesting too. 


Favourite Nail Polishes & Manicure Tools



L-R: Barry M Nail Paint in "Raspberry",  Barry M Nail Paint in "Berry", Sephora by OPI in "It's My Pink", 17 Nail Polish in "Sulk", Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish in "Hot Pink".

For a girl who always has her nails painted, I have a surprisingly small collection of nail polishes. I see some blogs with photos of hundreds of polishes in every colour, glitter, crackle and make, but my collection barely reaches the 30 mark. 

But that doesn't mean that I don't have some real gems! I don't really buy into the expensive nail polish fad, and tend to keep my money saved for more expensive makeup, but I'm a big believer that you don't have to break the bank to find some great polishes! I love Barry M polishes, they have every colour under the sun, including crackle and croc top coats, big and small glitters and even the new magnetic polishes. The brush is the perfect width (for my nails anyway) and I only need one or maybe two coats (depending on the colour) to leave my nails looking immaculate. Forever 21 do great polishes as well, although I've never seen them in European stores, and my collection of their polishes were all bought in North Carolina and New York. The photo above doesn't do justice but that "hot pink" is actually NEON pink which I think will be PERFECT with tanned skin.
Despite all the pastel hype, I think this might be my go-to colour for this summer. "Sulk" by 17 is a gorgeous colour - what I like to call a "mermaid" shade! A greeny, deep turquoise "chromatic" finish looks great on my nails and really makes my silver rings stand out more. Costing only £2-3, you can't really go wrong, and the colour reminds me of a deep ocean which sends me off into my own little summer holiday fantasy :-)
But no nails are complete without the mandatory upkeep! Again, Forever 21 (which seem to sell everything!) do a range of manicure sets and tools, and both my cuticle cutters and 6-sided nail file/buffer couldn't have cost more than £3 each from that glorious shop. Cutipen is a great little tool that you can buy in Boots at around the £6 mark, with a white cream that when applied to cuticles, helps dissolve them, and then a pointed tip (much like a pen!) that helps you scrape off the excess. Superdrug do their own brand of cuticle oil which has a brush soaked in the oil, easy to apply to each finger nail if they need a little softening, and then a rigid point which helps push cuticles back. Finally, there's the Mavala ridge filler, available in Boots for around the £5 mark. As someone who drank nothing but milk for their entire childhood (blame the Irish mother!) I was so surprised to find some ridges in one of my finger nails (which shows a lack of calcium) so I picked up this little baby which is like a nail polish that you paint over the ridges to create a smoother nail finish, leaving your nails ready to paint your favourite colour.


So these are all my "go to" products when I'm having a pamper session for my hands and feet!

Have you used any of these? What are your favourite products and polishes for manicures and pedicures?