Snow Days

Well, isn't it snowy at the moment?! Snow, it's all pretty and everything but what an inconvenience it is!

I haven't even been sledging...

I've finally been paid (hoorah!). After having next to no money for 3 weeks, following my last payday being before Christmas, it is such a relief to have money.

I'm trying to budget and not go crazy spending and ending up skint again! I'm just getting essentials (apart from the odd treat!).

Friday night I stayed in, no money - snooze!

Saturday, I drove to Lilleshall to pick my sister up and bring her home for the night. She's doing a 5-week intense personal training course at the European Institute of Fitness. We stopped by Telford on the way back and she treated me to a meal at Oscar's American Diner - yum. I then watched The Ugly Truth. Hello, Gerard Butler.

Sunday, I had to drive Donna back to Lilleshall in the snow, which had got worse! On the way home, I stopped by Telford Shopping Centre for a browse and a Subway lunch. Love Subway.

I then spent the evening watching Enchanted and Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton's version).

Monday, I stayed in.

Last night I had a catch up with my friend Kelly. We had a Nandos, followed by Diet Cokes at the pub, then Kelly went home and I cinema-solo'd it to watch Gangster Squad. I don't like violence and guns BUT, I really enjoyed the movie. Yes, I may have gone to see it mainly for Ryan Gosling but I was surprised by how good the movie was! I have a list of upcoming movies that I plan to go see. Most will probably be cinema solo's. Team Loner! Honestly though, if you really want to do things like go to see a movie but no-one will go, don't be afraid - go alone! The cinema is dark once you are in the screening, no-one will notice. I've been to the cinema alone a few times now and it's fine. I've been repping Team Loner quite a lot in the past year, it's great to be confident and independent, not letting things pass by just because no-one will go with me!

I'm working in Stone, Staffordshire tomorrow, doing packaging sampling in a warehouse. Nuts and bolts - wahoo! It'll be nice to get out of the office and have a change for the day.

Friday, I am SO excited about. It's my friend Jilly's birthday night out in Liverpool and I am now going, after finding out rooms in the Travelodge were on sale at £25 a room - CRAZY! The hotel is right next to Liverpool One, opposite the Albert Dock and minutes from bars and clubs. My friend Jo is coming with me and we're meeting Jilly and some of her Manchester Uni pals there for a night out, followed by shopping and sightseeing Saturday. YAYAYAY :)

Lots of exciting times. Happy days.

xXx

OOTN: Curry with the 'grown ups' and a rant about cameras

Major issues with photography at the moment. Silly cameras. My trusty camera, well camera phone, my old old Samsung Pixon 12, that I've kept for use as a camera for years sadly broke over Christmas (at some point during a drunken mosh to Slipknot's 'Spit It Out', which got rather crazy, especially in a tiny pub with limited space and old timber frames!). The camera on that phone could go up to 12 mega pixels and had so many great settings and brilliant macro. It was great for my blog photography, close-ups of products and make-up. But now, it's broken :( I'm a very sad Zo. Dad has borrowed me his digicam but it is rubbish, macro doesn't work, the photos often come out blurred (which I can't tell until I upload them to laptop!) and my current phone, Galaxy S camera is ok, but not for macro, plus it does not have a flash.

So basically, my blog photos are mostly going to be poo at the moment...

I can't rave enough about the Pixon 12 as a camera. I'm desperately trying to locate one for sale. If you know of any, please let me know! Alternatively, a Sony Ericsson Satio.

^Major rant about cameras!^

So, I went out with my parents and their friends tonight. I think they invited me out of pity for me being skint and about to have a lonely night in...

Dad treated me to a curry, my second paid for meal of the day, as my boss treated us all to lunch at a lovely country pub near our future office today.

Well, you'd have thought that I was the parent tonight... I was sober, everyone else was drunk. They then decided to start dancing in the curry house to the old 90's dance songs, then love songs and then...THEN, MEATLOAF CAME ON! Oh, the horror. Most of them were dancing, singing and then Chris, whose birthday it was, decided to start howling over and over, really loud. It was funny but I could see the staff wanted us out, as I'm sure the other customers did...

It was entertaining and cheered me up, as I got a little emotional last night!

Here's (some rubbish photos, boohoo! of) what I wore tonight:

This is what happens when I use dad's camera, extreme flash and blur)

This is my face, beginning and end of night... Also slightly different quality and colour even though both taken in same lighting on my camera phone...
The right photo shows my flaws. My forehead is pretty dry right now BUT my pores are improving :)
First try of Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara and Sexy Mother Pucker 'Punch Bowl' Lipgloss from the Best of All set (Christmas 2012). The mascara is pretty standard, I've used better. The lipgloss is nice, a little sticky though. Whilst I can't fault most Soap & Glory products, I wouldn't re-purchase either of these.

My hair looks so dry in this photo, it really isn't that bad!

I spent ages when I got home, trying to get decent photos of the make-up that I used tonight, only to discover that they are nowhere to be found (the pics, not the products - thankfully!), pretty peed that all the pics are gone and time wasted though. So, I'll just have to list the products used:

Face: 

Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer

17 Hide & Chic Foundation in 'Natural' (this is too dark for my skin but until I get paid I am having to make-do with old foundation!)

17 Miracle Matte Pressed Powder in 'Silky Beige' (recently purchased, review soon!)

17 Instant Glow Bronzing Pearls in 'Light'

Accessorize Merged Eyeshadow Shade 6 'Cocoa'

Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Mascara (first try with this, from the Best of All set)

Barry M Waterproof Eyeliner 'Black'

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker 'Punch Bowl' Lipgloss (as with mascara, first try, from Best of All).

Outfit:

Peplum: Primark

Skirt: Primark

Cardi: New Look (yeeears old!)

Tights: Asda

Boots: New Look (love these!)

Bag: Asda (oldie)

Nails:

No7 'Spice', mattified with Rimmel Pro Matte Finish top coat (I love the result!)

The cardi and bag have not been used for probably 2 years or more, so I dug them out tonight.

xXx

Bad Day

Today has been a bad day. I've been pretty happy so far this year and found much happiness during 2012. I learnt/taught myself how to control my emotions and not let things get me down, to enjoy life and be positive.

So today has been a big struggle. I've been worrying about my finances, as I've had next to no money for over 2 weeks and have now resorted to borrowing money off my dad to run my car. There's other things playing havoc on my mind and then tonight I found out something which has really concerned and upset me.

I'm trying my best not to cry, or worry too much but I'm struggling.

I really need something to cheer me up! Trying to be positive, I'm thinking of Download Festival and the new additions to what was already, and now is even more of an amazing line-up! It's going to be hard to maintain the excitement, with the health worry and tests that I am due to have one month later (scheduled on my birthday, of all days!), but I'll try my best.

But, here's the line-up...it makes me happy just looking at all the amazing acts that are confirmed already!

Obviously, my main excitement is for Slipknot. I love that band and their set in 2009 was one of the best I have ever experienced.

I did plan to do a 'proper' blog post tonight but due to my current situation, I am going to leave it for tonight.

I'll resume my usual blogging very soon.

 I have lots of rambling, product raves, new things to blog about and some reviews to do!

For now, I might just go listen to Kids in Glass Houses 'Sunshine' and sing it to myself 'Stop wishing for the sunshine, start living in the rain', or maybe I'll feel better if I go have a big cry...

xXx

Hello :)

I'm back!

It's been so long...

I've kind of abandoned my blog since Christmas time, oops! It's so easy to lose the blogging mojo when you haven't blogged for so long, and so difficult to get it back. I've been busybusy!

I hope you are all well and had a lovely Christmas, New Year and 2013 so far :)

There will be a lot more from Amelia's Allsorts in 2013, so stay tuned!

I've changed my hair colour again, first colour change of 2013: I'm a redhead (well, it's now faded to a auburn shade). I used Schwarzkopf's Live Color XXL Shake It Up Color Foam in shade 589 'Red Berry Passion'.

Excuse red-eye...they match my hair!

I can't express enough love for Schwarzkopf!

Anyway, this is just a 'Hello, I'm still around and Amelia's Allsorts is back' post. More posts coming soon, plus I need to catch up on my fave blogs. I actually haven't been on Blogger, blogs or Twitter since December!!!

Blog soon,

Zoe

xXx

Festive Nails No.5 - Candy Cane

17 'Knockout Red' (freebie in an old GWP), white nail art pen from Rio Professional Nail Art Kit and Barry M All in One as a topcoat.

I love this festive look and I've had lots of compliments from people, friends, co-workers, shop workers and random girls behind me in Asda, talking to each other about how cool my nails are, haha!

Pretty quick and easy to do, though I struggled to do the stripes quite so neat on my right hand, as left handed is not easy for a 'Righty'.

These have lasted 4 days but have now started to chip, mainly the right hand - the one that will not be easy to re-do. The left hand is all good, bar 1 nail. Doh. I'm currently debating whether to attempt to re-do this look for tonight, leave as is for the night, or just remove and do plain festive coloured nails...

 Tonight, I'm going to my favourite pub, for the monthly DJ night. I can't wait! The last 2 were crazy-fun, so tonight will be brilliant, especially as it's Christmas time, so everyone will be more merry than usual and lots of awesome folk will be out.

Yesterday, I drove to Cardiff...yes, 3 whole hours drive there and 3/4 hours back in horrendous conditions, on my own, for Kids in Glass Houses Christmas Party gig. I've missed every year and decided to go this year, as they added a Saturday Matinee show. I planned to get the train but due to weather, getting to Cardiff via train was not happening. I had bought my gig ticket, £13.75 but luckily not booked train. I did consider bailing and losing out on the £13.75 but didn't want to miss the gig. So, I spent over £40 petrol and most of my Saturday driving!

Well worth it though, the gig was amazing, as always.

I fit in a little look round Cardiff's St. David's Shopping Centre after the gig, before heading home.

During the drive home, I realised I hadn't had any sugar the whole day, after hitting an energy slump, so I made a service station stop and got a Costa Black Forest Hot Chocolate, which was oh so yummy and did the job.

Today, I've done a little Christmas shopping and some chilling.

Now, it's about time to have a drink, blast the tunes and start getting ready for tonight :)

(I've been the sober one all weekend, when everyone else has been drunk, so tonight is my turn!)

Happy days!

xXx

Festive Nails No.4 - Barry M LE Christmas Glitter

Barry M Cosmetics Limited Edition 'Christmas Glitter' Nail Paint

- free when you spend £6 or more on any other Barry M products in Superdrug! GO GETCHA SOME!

When I first heard about this polish, I was so excited and couldn't wait for it's release. Then, I couldn't find any, horror.

This Christmas, Barry M have brought out 4 Limited Edition nail paints - 2 in Superdrug and 2 in Boots. This one is available in Superdrug, along with 'Christmas Blue', while Boots have 'Christmas Pink' (which I have also picked up) and 'Christmas Gold'. All are available as freebies (1 per customer), when spending £6 or more on any other Barry M products. I picked up a lipstick for my friend and an eyeliner for my mum, both for Christmas, then got myself the nail polish FREE :) The eyeliner I got for mum is the Bold Waterproof Eyeliner in 'Black', as I swear by the stuff and mum is always asking "What eyeliner do you use?". It's great!

I love this polish, just 1 coat used over 17 'Garnet' (mentioned in my last Festive Nail post).

And I love the cute coloured metallic lids, because simple things...

I've now removed this nail polish, ready for my next nail look. I'm thinking I'll have a day off festive nails and do some cute fimo, even though it's getting late now. Shower time with Lush and Soap & Glory, then I may have some fimo fun and watch a DVD. What DVD though? Decisions.

Oh yeah, I'm currently listening to Kids in Glass Houses 'Secret Santa', for the 5th (maybe 6th or 7th...) time tonight - I'm cool.

If you haven't heard it yet, give it a listen. It's such an uplifting Christmas song and not the usually cringey bs. Watch the video too, it'll make you smile and feel all Christmassy ;-) Last night's Radio 1 Review Show was totally taken over on Twitter by KIGH fans tweeting like crazy for Secret Santa to be played, as Aled was on the show. So much love for this song and band. They don't get the recognition they deserve.

xXx

Festive Nails No.3 - Christmas Gold and Red

Combined nail post tonight. I didn't feel it was worth separate posts for these. I will attempt something more exciting soon!

Gold - 17 Supreme Shine 'Sphinx'

I don't tend to wear light polishes, or golden ones but I went to see Stone Sour on Friday night and their new album is called 'House of Gold and Bones Part 1', soooo I took inspiration and painted my nails golden.

Red - 17 Fast Finish 'Garnet'

A gorgeous metallic red polish, which is very Christmassy.  I've since added a coat of Barry M's Limited Edition 'Christmas Glitter' polish, which I will blog about tomorrow.

One week to go until Christmas! How exciting? I am so so unprepared! As always. I have some present buying to do still, but I can't do this until I have money.

I'm even more excited now because I'M GOING TO SEE KIGH SATURDAY!!!! *Fangirl moment*. I decided it would be criminal to miss yet another of the annual KIGH Christmas Party shows, so I booked myself a ticket and I'm going to Cardiff to see them on Saturday :) Who cares if I only have £4.39 in my bank after buying my ticket, it's totally worth it! Thankfully I'll have been paid by Saturday.

I'm also awaiting the arrival of my Sleigher tee, from Aled's Who Are The Nines online store, which I am excited about (hoping it arrives in time!).

So much excitement at the moment!

xXx