Feb Resolutions Check In

So you may remember that last time around when I did this, I had had a really good month and had kept up with my resolutions really well. This month has not been so successful...oops!

Resolution #1-Lemony Flutter
So I have...not used my LF all month. I really should have been but I just haven't. I think the fact that I've moved up to Sheffield and that my boyfriend has been in hospital so much has really just thrown me off. My cuticles look really bad on it though, so I am going to try and use it every night before bed in March if I can!

Resolution #2-Spend no more than £20 on polish things a month and/or buy no more than 4 polishes a month
Ah...this one I have done really terribly at this month. In total I have acquired SIXTEEN new polishes, which is 4 times more than I should have done! I did only pay for half of them though, as I have been very lucky this month and got a lot of freebies from various places. Lets have a look at my collection then:

...oops

Top Row: Pocket Money Polishes-She's Like The Wind and Alien Like You, Black Cat Lacquer-Evergreen (all bought by me), Rara Avis-Cast Iron Cannon (made and given to me by Rara!!)

2nd Row: Sally Hansen-Cherry Drop, Revlon-Haunted Heart, Rimmel-Out Of The Blue, Sinful Colors-Ciao Bella, Sally Hansen-Razzleberry (all bought by me)

3rd Row: Nails Inc Shine On Collection-Elm Park Road, Raphael Street, Cadogan Gate, Lyall Street (bought for me for Valentine's by my boyfriend)

Bottom Row: Chubby Owl Polishes-Roses Are Red, Midnight Owls, Violets Are Blue (I bought Midnight Owls and Jenna included the minis as a lovely surprise in my parcel!)

Here's a pic of the glitters swatched so you can enjoy them!

L-R: Alien Like You (over Out Of The Blue), She's Like The Wind (over Cast Iron Cannon), Midnight Owls, Roses Are Red, Violets are Blue

So my total spend this month was...£35.79-eep! I am officially on a no-buy for the forseeable future now, sigh. I'm going to have to avoid Poundland like the plague and it's going to take all my resolve! Hopefully this month's pretties will keep me occupied for a while!

Total spent: £35.79
Under/Over budget: Over, way, way over!
Number of new polishes acquired: Sixteen!
Fewer/More than four? SO MANY MORE.

I guess that's a double fail for me this month, oops! :-/ Will try harder next time!

See you next month,

~Nail Art Novice~

Resolutions Check-In

At the start of the year I made some blogging resolutions, which you can read in this post. I promised to post on how well I was keeping to them in a bid to shame me into actually sticking to them!

Resolution #1-Lemony Flutter

I did buy myself some Lemony Flutter at the start of the year and I have been using it...sporadically. I have to say I don't remember to do it 9 manis out of 10 so I don't think my cuticles have seen much improvement this month. However, I am trying to remember to put it on every night before I go to bed, and hopefully that will help them a little more.

Resolution #2-Spend no more than £20 on polish things a month and/or buy no more than 4 polishes a month

I had to be very harsh on myself with this one because it's very easy to just nip into poundland and pick up 10 new pretties and still have spent nowhere near £20, but I'm including all things nails (excluding remover but including delivery) so that I don't just splurge! January was meant to be a no-buy month for me and I did really well (for me!) but caved in towards the end of it. 

Items bought: 

-Lemony Flutter, £6.50

-2 SJ Polishes in her closing down sale (and only because she was closing down!) for £10 (including postage).

There's been lots of UK Indies closing their doors this month, which is really sad to see, and I had to stop myself ordering from them all! I did place a Pocket Money Polish order before she closed, but Charlie has very kindly allowed me to delay my payment until February, meaning they will count on next month's total. 

Total spent: £16.50

Under/Over budget: Under

Number of new polishes acquired: Two

Fewer/More than four? Fewer 

So I guess that's two thumbs up for this month. My boyfriend has challenged me to keep this up ALL YEAR but we'll have to see how that goes for me. I can't promise I'll be so good once I have regular income, haha!

To end I'll share some pics of this month's pretties:

It's only in uploading this picture that I've noticed
the spelling mistake...that's annoying.

Matte Party, Sprung

Matte Party (over Sinful Colours-Amethyst)
Sprung (over Sally Hansen-Himalayan Blue)

That's all for this month!

~Nail Art Novice ~

My Blogging Resolutions!

~Happy New Year! I hope 2014 brings you happiness and awesome things, and of course, lots and lots of shiny polishes!~

I don't, as a rule, make resolutions, because I feel like they're just a way to make you feel bad about yourself if you break them-and life is too short for feeling guilty for breaking a pledge to yourself! However, this year I am dispensing with tradition and making a couple of blogging/nail related resolutions, which I am determined to stick to as best I can-and I will keep you updated on my progress throughout the year.

1. Buy some Lemony Flutter and start actually looking after my cuticles/hands properly.

I am a bit terrible at looking after my skin in general, if I'm honest, but as a nail blogger I feel like I should try and make an effort with my hands if I can. Also all this acetone is playing havoc with my cuticles, and the skin around them is a bit rough and raggedy. I want to try and improve the state of them if I can in 2014!

2.Drastically limit my polish spending, at least until I am employed and earning again.

This is the biggy for me. I have a terrible habit of spending money that I don't have on polishes I don't really need and I am amassing a collection that's growing in size too rapidly for me to deal with it. So this is a two part thing-I'm going to:

i) Limit myself to a maximum of 4 new polishes a month and try to use the ones I have more.

ii) Limit myself to a maximum spend of £20/month on polish and all polish related things including shipping, stamping plates, brushes, tools, etc etc. (I'm not including remover/cotton pads in this because I go through so much of them and also the amount I use changes depending on what manis I have been wearing.)

To help me to try and achieve this second resolution, I will post at the end of every month showing what I have acquired and detailing what I have spent-in a bid to shame myself if I've been bad/be proud if I've been good! I know, if nothing else, Rara will help keep me on the straight and narrow for this-she's always telling me off for buying new polishes!

The final thing for me to say is a great big THANKYOU to all of you who have started following me over the past year. The people I have met through this blog are really what makes it for me-I've made "friends" (virtually, at least!) with so many awesome people and I look forward to growing those friendships in 2014. There's also lots of exciting things on the way, so keep an eye out!

~Nail Art Novice~