Boots Star Gift - Smashbox #SHAPEMATTERS 3 in 1 Contouring Palette

I know it's a tad early to even start thinking about it, what with it still being fairly warm as well as only being October but I had to share this deal with you!

Boots have just launched their Christmas shop, each week releasing a Star Gift which would make a great present for yourself or someone else - personally this weeks gift is something I wont be giving away!

From Smashbox you get the #Shapematters 3 in 1 Contouring Palette which includes:

- 9 award-winning Photo Op Eye Shadows (Vanilla, Totally Nude, Champagne, Stripped, Posh, Platinum, Sumatra, Aubergine, Blackout)

- 3 Contour Powders for most skin tones

- 1 Highlighter

- 2 best-selling Brow Tech Powders

- 1 Brow Tech Wax

- 1 double-ended Shadow/Brow Brush

- 1 full-size mirror

- 3 Interactive Get The Look Cards (Brow, Face, Eye)

According to Boots' website, this palette has been created with Sephora as is a multi-product palette.

Normally this will be £60, but until the 8th October it's only £30, a total bargain! 

So, head down to Boots or pick one, or two or even three up here online while you can - think I need to go and grab one!

What do you think, too early for Christmas? 

Nails - Minty Greens

L-R
Turquoise Gloss, Greenberry, Mint Candy Apple, Pool Party, Blossom Dandy

I know the seasons are changing and we are moving into Autumn but I still love minty greens, especially for on my toes - it's nice to have a pop of colour hidden away under socks. I've probably done a post similar to this before but I've had a few new additions over the last few months so I thought I would do an update.

Whenever I'm looking for a polish that will last I always reach for the Models Own Hypergel in Turquoise Gloss as I know it will still look good after a few days. Turquoise Gloss is definitely a very blue toned minty green but it looks really nice against my skin tone. For high shine I like to reach for Barry M Gelly in Greenberry which is more on the green end of the scale of minty-ness, a lovely fresh colour. 

For a pale green I tend to reach for Essie Mint Candy Apple, it's a cult favourite amoung bloggers but it isn't my favourite. it's a nice polish with a good finish but not one that I would rave about. Moving down to the most green toned end of the scale I've got a Topshop polish in Pool Party which is a really bright turquoisey/green - I love this for really sunny days although the finish isn't as long lasting as some of the other polishes.  

Finally we have my favourite of all the these - Essie Blossom Dandy. I picked this up when I thought I had lost my Mint Candy Apple and needed a replacement but couldn't find MCA in Boots or Superdrug. Blossom Dandy is the warmer cousin of  MCA. It is so much easier to wear then MCA, plus I could wear it all the time! 

Just a few of my favourites at the moment - I think it might be time for me to put these away and dig out my autumnal shades but for now I'm loving minty greens - what greens are you still loving? xx

Photography - Shoreditch, Spitalfields Market & Brick Lane

I've been working on my photography recently, something to fill my time with during the summer holidays and it's something I've wanted to learn about for a while. So I treated myself to a groupon voucher for a walking photography course, booked the course and waited for the date.

When the day arrived I made sure I had a fully charged camera with an empty memory card and headed into London. Trains were a bit of a mare that day so I turned up a little late but a quick e-mail to the tutor to let him know and they waited for me near Shoreditch station. He quickly went through what I was aiming to do and really encouraged us to look carefully before taking a picture. We had to play with what level we took the picture from, standing in different places, sitting on the side of the road - never did I think I would be sitting on a kerb in the middle of London.

We wandered then round to the market at Spitalfields where our tutor set us the challenge of asking if it was OK for us to take a picture of them working or their stand - this was really scary for someone like me who is normally very shy but I manned up and did and got some great pictures as well as feeling incredibly hungry around the food! A little bit of wandering around, he pushed us to take pictures of people without them really being aware, being 'natural'. We also worked on our people photography, finding nice places to stop and getting someone to pose, I ended up sitting on the step of a gorgeous house, it was slightly embarrassing as I hate having my picture taken! From here we walked round to find the graffiti! 

When we found a good spot filled with amazing art work - spent about 30mins here taking pictures before it was time to head home. Once I got home I hit up a bit of editing of the pictures, I took so many and I'm still working my way through editing, playing around with contrast and brightness - its great fun really and something I never thought I would have the courage to do!

So here are just a few of my edited pictures, some are my favourites, others are ones that work, but I've never put my work up on the Internet before for people to see so I would love some feedback! 

Let me know what you think!