My new Songbird Personal Filofax!

I ordered my new Filo on Sunday from Viking Direct - it was £20.47 including postage. It arrived yesterday morning (Tuesday) - so pretty good!

 As you can see it's a really nice green colour - the button which the elastic strap fastens around has musical notes on which is really cute!

 I was really happy that the elastic pen loop holds my big chunky Cross ballpoint well - I won it in a raffle about eight years ago and have only recently started properly using it. I use it as my main pen for writing in my Filo, but for recording homework I usually use the cheap WHSmiths blue fountain pen I use in class. For especially significant things I use 'accent colour' ink which rotates between purple, turquoise and pink (though I've run out of purple ink cartridges).
In this photo you can also see my tabs - this is a set that I found in one of my other personal size binders that I've had since I was seven or eight - they came in a Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Filofax thing, I think, though there's no information on them regarding whether they were actual Filofax brand or what. They're significantly thicker than the Filofax issue ones, which means they're probably a bit more robust.

 First comes my Personal tab with things like the Personal Information Sheet and passwords (heavily coded, of course) in.

 Here's the diary section, with a shot of Hermione looking wistfully into the distance, and a nice bit of my eight year old handwriting... I've only put stickers on the tabs where they were categories I don't want - there was a 'stickers' tab, and a 'stuff' tab, etc. I've changed those to Planner, Writing, Finance, and Misc. to go along with the Personal, Diary, Contacts, and Notes

 Here's a picture of the back of a divider - they all have that on, on the corresponding colour background.

 Here's this week. Fairly empty, mainly because it's the first week I've had this Filo. I've my Swimathon on Friday so I put a Quidditch sticker over the end of this week, because I can now archive my old weeks (more on that later) so I don't feel bad about using stickers.

 This is the Planner section, containing timetable, revision plan, to-do lists, etc.

 I've put the ruler which came in the Potter organiser there - it doesn't move around as easily as the today ruler, and it doesn't stick out the top, but it's useful for creating the list paper to the left - I have a column for the topic I'm revising, a column that I fill in with the date I've done that hour's work, and a tick column for if that topic is completed.

 Here's my Contacts tab - I have yet to copy in/organise these. I did see mentioned on Philofaxy a way of organising by category rather than surname, which seemed fairly good, but I want to let the rest of the system bed in first.

 Here's some address paper I found, on the left from my Potter organiser and on the right from my G-File (Girl Guides handbook). The G-File paper was a little too wide but I trimmed it, so it's fine.

 Notes section - I've always found that scene in the film really suspenseful...

 Writing section - you're not seeing in there ;)

 Finance section - originally this and Writing were the other way around, but I couldn't resist having Griphook look after my money. I don't have the official finance insert, I'm just going to list spending on one side of a page, and pay on the other side, and tally one against the other at the end of the month.

 Everyone needs a Miscellaneous section, right? Though my friends and I are confused about what cat that cat in the picture is - any ideas?

 The only two stickers that came with the Potter organiser that are left - I still have some stickers I got with the Breast Cancer Care organiser, but those aren't punched so live in the transparent wallet at the front.

 Things I don't use often enough to warrant a place in my purse - I got this card slip thing out of my G-File, the Go-4-Its in Guiding are shaped like credit cards.

 These are my two other personal-size-ish binders, by which I mean they both have the right ring layout. The one on the left is my Mum's - I've no idea where it came from. The one on the right is my guides handbook, with my scarf tucked in it. That I'd rather not pull apart to use for archiving, but the Mickey one, as it's empty, can have old calendar weeks stored in it.

And here's all three together.

How do you organise your life?

Retail Therapy! Primark and Poundworld, and a look at my organisation

I was in dire need of a bit of retail therapy (aka, Primark therapy) as I hadn't been into town for ages, so I went into town after work yesterday.

First I went into Poundworld, to see if they had any good discontinued makeup stuff, which they didn't, and I then looked at the usual rows of imitation Simple makeup wipes, and so on, and then saw a tub of Nivea Creme, which is £1.40 for 50ml at Boots, so £1 is a saving of nearly 30% on the normal price. It appears to have been aimed at the Polish market.

Then I went to Primark, because I wanted a new purse, and I chose this one for £4; it's nice, doesn't look particularly cheap, and has millions of card slots (the most important thing for me)

They have a new thing of charm bracelets - the bracelet is £1 as is each charm. I chose a yacht because I love to sail, the US flag star because the school trip I went on there last summer was amazing, and a Mini because I drive one.

 And I chose this bag, which is nice and big, and with a fun print ready for the Jubilympics this summer! It was £9.

 And lastly I picked up these wipes - at £1 for 50 they're worth a try, and the last Primark wipes I had (with a mini review here) were really good.

Here's a shot of how I organised my purse - In the front card slots clockwise from top left: drving license, student ID, library card and swimming pool membership, bank card. And then vouchers in the front. One of the two biggish bits will be banknotes and the other receipts - and then loyalty cards and giftcards in the back slots.

Since we're on the topic of organisation, here's how my current diary is organised - it's the Breast Cancer Care Pocket Filofax. I've ordered a Personal size one which I think I will need for the summer and uni, especially with my disorganised tendencies.

In the left hand card slots are my NI card and a sample of fabric from the prom dress I'm not going to wear - I can't think where else to put it, and I like stroking it so I'm keeping it in here. In the pocket behind those are the tab dividers I'm not using.

Here are my tab divisions. The dividers are the ones that came in my Paperchase branded organiser; I like the bright colours! In the plastic wallet in the front is my sponsorship form for the Big Splash Sport Relief Mile which I'm doing next Friday. There's also a list of which of my friends haven't paid me back for a BBQ we had before Easter.

In this tab you can see that I use the Filofax brand letter tabs within my 'address' division. They stick out less so it works well.

In the 'information' divider I have things like my tube map and world map, and in the 'agenda' section my school timetable. I'm going to show you more about what comes in my 'planner' divider. First is a cross-off chart about how many school days I have left ever. Scary, right?

 Then I have a list of all the topics in all my exams, and my revision plan/to-do list day by day.

Then in the back pocket I have some stickers that came with the diary, my list of 19 things to do before I'm 19, and a spare hairclip so that I always have one.

I hope you've enjoyed having a look at how I organise my life - how do you organise yours?

Also, while writing this post my blog crossed 2,000 views. Thanks, guys, it means a lot - that averages out to 500 a month, or just over 16 a day since I started my blog at the end of December. I might do a giveaway soon to celebrate - what do you think of that?

Really old NOTD: No7 Jammy

This No7 polish usually retails for £7, which makes it only £2 with those £5 off tillspits they often have.

It's really good! I usually chip my nail polish after only a day or so, this lasted a good three or four days with minimal tip wear, including a couple of swims. Also you can see the amount of  shine on the nails - that's without a top coat! I know, amazing, right?

Filofax sale at WHSmiths!

WHSmiths have a great sale on at the moment. You might know that I'm a little obsessed with organisation, I'm moving up into a Personal size Filofax I think, and this sale is helping me do it - I'm getting the Songbird one http://www.whsmith.co.uk/filofax

FOTD: lazy lazy

Products used:
Collection Extreme 24H pen eyeliner
17 Photo Flawless Mascara
17 Nude Blusher
Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lipstain and balm

This was me trying to come up with the simplest, least scary look possible - a guy friend of mine professes to hate all make-up, so I thought I'd have a go at proving him wrong

FOTD: Family Day Out

Products used:
- Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
- 17 Eyeshadow in Walnut Pearl and Funfair
- elf blush in Shy
- M&S blush in Ginger (discontinued)
- Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti

Review: 17 Photo Flawless Lashes

I bought this last Thursday for £5.99 (though it was actually free as part of Boots' ongoing 3 for 2). I already love the eye pencil from this range, and this is also the most expensive mascara I've ever bought (because I'm a cheapskate), so I had high expectations.

And this mascara lived up to them.

It comes in Black-Blue, Black-Copper, and Black-Green, and the idea is that you buy the tint that matches your eye colour, to help bring out the colour.

On the eye

Photo 1: Just some black eyeliner (Collection's Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner)

Photo 2: with two quick coats on the top lashes - you can see that the lashes already have more length and slightly more body than before.

Photo 3: Finished! Another couple of quick coats on the top lashes, some white eye liner (Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Pencil) on the waterline, and a coat on the lower lashes. You can see that this mascara has successfully avoided the tarantula-eye syndrome. Even if the gold-ness isn't obvious on the eye, I do think (though this may be the placebo effect) that the mascara has helped to bring out my eye colour.

Packaging

As you can see in the photo above, it comes in a bodacious black tube and has a curved brush. The bottle/tube feels fairly sturdy, but what with the fairly gloopy formula it could be quite difficult to get all of the formula out.

Close-up of the brush

The brush is the first curved one I've tried, and it's really good for lifting the lashes. Not hugely high-tech, but sometimes low-tech is the best solution. The only downside of the brush is that it makes doing the lower lashes quite difficult.

I really like the film strip design on the bottle, even if the pedantic side of me says that a film strip wouldn't go on a cone...

Does it live up to its promises?

These fabulous mascaras have a clever curved wand that will give your lashes a long-lasting lift and voluptuous volume from day to night. They are smudge-proof and promise to leave you saying good-bye to panda eyes.

By accentuating your natural eye colour, you’ll never feel the need to hide from the camera again.

"Thanks to the angled brush of this mascara it creates the most dramatic effect by lifting and curling the lashes. The best thing about this mascara is the intense pigment in the formula that accentuates the colour of your iris, brightening your eyes making them bigger and your lashes full of life”.

 I would say that this mascara does live up to most of its promises.

• long-lasting lift - yes, this mascara lasts AGES.
• voluptuous  volume - um, maybe. Each individual lash maybe.
• smudge-proof - yes! I wore this mascara for a party on Saturday night and when I got home there was no smudging at all. Nada.
• accentuating natural eye colour - maybe. I like to think so. It's certainly less harsh a black than the usual black mascaras and less 'meh' than the brown ones. So I like the colour.
• lifting and curling the lashes - yeah, pretty much, thanks to the ginormous curved brush.

Who would like this product?
Anyone with eyelashes, I think! Although it's not a waterproof mascara, it lasts really well. Also anyone looking for something between a brown and a black mascara. It's a really good all-round mascara.

Would I repurchase this?
Definitely! It is fairly gloopy which means it might dry up quicker than some other mascaras, but I really like it.

• Collection Extreme 24H Felt Tip Eye Liner - Black
• 17 Photo Flawless Lashes - Black/Copper or Black-Gold (the same thing, the website calls it Black-Gold but on the tube it says Black/Copper)
• 17 Pure Finish Sheer Mineral Blusher - Plum
• Rimmel 1000 Kisses Lip Tint - Carry on Cherry

What's your favourite mascara?

Boots haul (another one!)

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for my slowness in getting this post out - I've been having issues with Blogger's new User Interface. On the bright side, it has meant that I have had a chance to properly use the products.

 

The first thing I went for was the Revlon Lip Butters. After testing the shades (we only had eight in my local branch, which included Lollipop and Candy Apple) I went for Tutti Frutti. I've never worn a coral lip before, but it looks good! Retails for £7.99, and I would say it's similar to 17's Mirror Shine Lipstick.

Up until now I haven't actually had a foundation - I threw out my old Natural Collection one as it was really bad at blending - but I hadn't realised other foundations were so much better than it! (Of course, this one should be, it's five times the price!) At £9.99 this is the most expensive beauty product I've ever bought, but it's so good! Full review soon. I bought shade 53 which is maybe a tad dark right now - but a little sunbathing will fix that. It's nice and yellow toned though.

Since they still have the 3 for 2, I wanted to get a mascara - I'm happy with my £1.99 Natural Collection mascaras, but there clearly existed something else which led people to go for slightly more expensive ones - this is £5.99. It's the first curved-brush mascara I've owned, which made the first use fun, but it's really good! I had thought it would be, as my favourite eyeliner is from this range.

Have you taken advantage of Boots' current 3 for 2?

Boots hair haul!

I needed a new hairbrush, as my hair takes forever to try so I thought a vented one would help my hairdrying efforts. This is especially important at the swimming pool, where the hairdryers are 20p for a set amount of time. As the 3 for 2 is still on, and I always want to get styling products but am scared off by the price, I thought I'd get two to try.

Boots Essentials Vented Brush - 4.39
VO5 Smoothly Does It Tame & Shine Spray - 3.69
VO5 Plump It Up Amplifying Blow Dry Lotion - 2.99 (free in the deal)
Total cost: 8.08

March favourites!

This is a bit of a 'basics' favourites post, as I found up the five things that make my life pretty easily :)

Remington S7902 Wet2Straight Hair Straighteners

I've had these since October, and they're generally fab, but it was at the debating conference I went to that they came into their own. You see, I was really stupid and forgot to take a hairbrush (d'oh) - but I found that once I had straightened my hair with these you couldn't tell at all. Plus, since my hair is so thick, it would be impossible to fully dry it before straightening - with these I don't have to! I use Schwarzkopf's got2b Guardian Angel Heat Defence spray with them, which seems pretty good.

These have an RRP of £84.99 but retail on Amazon for £42.99

17 Mirror Shine Lipstick - Belle

(image from the fab Catherine's Loves blog)

I have been keeping this lipstick in my pencilcase for most of the past month, it's perfect for a quick swipe. The colour is fairly sheer, with lots of shiiiine and it's really pretty. That the colour is sheer means that you can just swipe away even without a mirror, as if you miss a bit/go off your lips it's not at all noticeable. 

Plus, the packaging is pretty snazzy too - it's fairly difficult to lose this bright blue tube in your bag.

It sells for £4.59 from Boots.

Elf blusher - Shy
(image from the fab Sugar Coated Muffin blog)
This blusher is a really good every-day blusher in my opinion, as it produces a soft pink which goes with everything and is really difficult to overdo. Plus it lasts really well to. Does what it says on the tin, really.
It sells for £1.50, either for 2g in its own thingy as shown or for 1.5g to go in their Elements system, from elf.

17 Solo Eyeshadow - Walnut Pearl (top left in this picture)
I love this eyeshadow - it's a lovely everyday basic colour, and goes with everything - basically the eye makeup equivalent of the blusher above. It's really long-wearing, too.
It retails for £3.89 from Boots.

17 BB Cream
The main reason I like this is that it is low coverage - it's really just a me-but-better look. I have been using it in Light, but I think I need to move up to Medium as I've started to pick up a bit of a tan. It lasts all day (always a bonus!) and generally helps me feel like a more polished version of me.
It sells for £6.99 from Boots.