My Week In Pictures #1

Hi Guys,

Tonight's post comes from a tired place. Sickness has taken hold of the Truly Polished family. My son has been ill for about a week and the last two days he's been chesty and coughing. And now it's my boyfriend's turn! Luckily I haven't caught it... Yet. I say yet because if you've been a long-term reader of my blog then you'll know I'm pretty much ill all the time! 

Anyway, I have a new feature to introduce today. It's been something I've been considering for quite some time so tonight is the night...

My Week In Pictures is my idea to keep my blog up to date with photos. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll probably have seen these already, but I know there are a lot of people who just read my blog, so I don't want people to miss out! I post so many photos to Instagram and it will be nice to share them here too.

This won't be a weekly thing, more of an "I've had an interesting week" kind of thing!

So here goes!

Valentine's Day, my boyfriend always knows the best cards to get me!
I loved this!

Some of my stash pre-organising

During the organising...
I CAN'T WAIT TO GET WOOD FLOORING!
GOODBYE TERRIBLE CARPET!

And then I found 5 more in my makeup bag...
And bought another 7...

Trying to eat healthily and get my Five A Day!

I got a lightbox, more of that soon

New Barry M textured polishes! 

Taping off areas to paint grass on my son's wall

After painting, we still have a couple of walls to do

Yesterday found out I won £250 to spend at ASOS in the eShores
Global Style Blogger Challenge, yay!
You can read my post here...

So that's that! My week in pictures! Let me know in the comments section or by email - trulypolishedblog@gmail.com - what you think of the new feature.

I'm hoping to get some swatching to do over the next two days because we're going away on Friday. I was dying for a holiday, but since my boyfriend got home, I have been having too much fun getting things done in the house. So instead of going abroad for a week or more, we're having a mini-break in Wales instead. We've rented a cottage for four days in Pembrokeshire. It's in a little complex of ten with an indoor pool and a soft play area for the kids. Sounds perfect for a change of scenery if nothing else. And we're going to stop in and see my boyfriend's sister in Swansea on the way home. It's over a seven hour drive but I just want a little break! 

See you in a couple of days! Don't forget you can see a lot more of what I'm up to on Instagram, find me at @truly_polished!

Models Own Ice Neon Collection

Hi Everyone!

I know, two posts in as many days! I'm getting the hang of this! 

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. My boyfriend and I decided to try one of those M&S meals and it was AMAZING! I'd never had one before, but I'll definitely get one again. We had roast chicken with stuffing and bacon, and a side of potato gratin. And then to top it off we had a chocolate cake for dessert. I still feel guilty for eating nearly 1000 calories of cake, but I'm sure I'll forget eventually! We also watched Silver Linings Playbook and I loved it! Boyfriend did too, so it was a hit!

Anyway, I got a really cool email today from one of my favourite brands: Models Own! Just when I thought it was safe to put myself on a no-buy...

Let me introduce you to their latest collection... THE ICE NEON COLLECTION!

Here's what Models Own have to say about these beauties:

"The only way to keep fluoro really bright is to KEEP IT COLD! We've packed this collection in specially-designed frosted bottles that you should keep refrigerated to protect the intense fluoro colour from fading. These on-trend neons bring summer alive with fluoro flavour, bold and bright."

These polishes will be available to pre-order on the 1st of March for guaranteed delivery on the 20th. If you live near Westfield in London, not the Stratford one, the other one, then you can get them on the 9th of March, lucky you! 

They will also be in Boots stores across the country from the 22nd of March.

I wish I lived nearer to London... Unfortunately it's a couple of hours away, so I'll be pre-ordering them. I'm especially in love with the pink! I soooo wish I could get my hands on these before the 20th of March, I've decided they're going to be my Mothers' Day present to myself!

What do you guys think of the colours? Will you be pre-ordering?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi Guys,

Long time no see? I know, I'm a terrible blogger! This week we have been doing lots of boring things around the house, but we're getting somewhere. My son's room is nearly finished. His blinds are cut to size and put up, his normal ceiling light has been taken down and there is a sun in it's place, and his room is coming together exactly how I wanted it to! I also organised my Helmer on Tuesday... There will be a post on that either tomorrow or next week, time depending...

Anyway, today is Valentine's Day, not that you would know it in my house! Let's just say we aren't all pink hearts and love songs here!

Nevertheless, this is Valentine's Day and I wanted to mark it with a pretty pink manicure. This is the first manicure that I have photographed in my new lightbox. I got it on Monday, and while I was playing with it I knocked over one of the lamps and the bulbs went. So I bought new bulbs and replaced both, so I hope you like the new photos!

Here's the mani:

Let me just say, it felt really good to do a little bit of nail art, even if it was just a little bit!

The polishes I used were: 

17 Simply Pink - three coats (pale pink)

Revlon Sparkling - one coat (glitter)

Orly Miss Conduct - two coats (cranberry scattered holo)

I freehanded the heart as best as I could with the brush from the bottle, and then at the left hand side I used my opposite thumb nail to create the line. Then I filled the gap with Simply Pink with a striping brush.

I love how this looks, it's the first thing like this I've done in absolutely ages!

What do you think of the lightbox photos? I'm really happy with them, the bulbs give off the perfect level of light. The only thing I must say is that I didn't use a matte top coat. This was glossy (I used the Models Own topcoat) but the diffused light takes the glossiness away. I don't mind how it looks, but it's worth a mention!

If you want to know more about my lightbox and lamps, then check back next week because I'll hopefully have a post up about it!

Happy Valentine's Day. Whether you're single, in a relationship, or "it's complicated" I hope you're having a great day!

Introducing... Sweetaholic Charms!

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the lack of posts, everything has been really up in the air lately! My boyfriend is home now and so we've had a lot to do! Plus his car broke down yesterday while we were on the way out for dinner last night, typical, and so three hours of waiting around for the RAC and a tow-truck meant a blog post was not on the cards!

Anyway, onto bigger and better things! Allow me to introduce you to... Sweetaholic Charms!

One of my favourite bloggers, Rachel from Life of a Sweetaholic, recently started her own business making charm bracelets. They are sooo pretty, simple, subtle, and everything I love in jewellery. Best of all they are handmade, so each one is extra special. 

She very kindly sent me two bracelets of my choice to review and I picked the cupcake (of course!) on white waxed cotton and the heart on teal. And here they are! Each order comes with a little sweet treat, as you can see in the photos, they were so yummy!

Beautiful wrapping! And sweets!

My cupcake bracelet*

Heart bracelet*

Beautiful charms!*

Here is the size of the charms* in relation to my index finger nail

Aren't they pretty? These would make great presents!

The length of the waxed cotton is 30cm, so you can adjust or trim the bracelet to create the perfect fit.

The colours available are: white, teal, lilac, baby pink and dark pink. They are all gorgeous, I struggled to choose between them!

You can choose between flower beads, or a butterfly, heart or cupcake charm.

Prices for these bracelets range from 75p to £1.20, so they are super affordable. You could have one of each charm in each colour and mix and match.

I love wearing my two bracelets together, the teal and white looks great together, and after all, I do heart cupcakes!

You can check out Rachel's online store here:

SWEETAHOLIC CHARMS

Right now she is only shipping in the UK, but she hopes to expand to other countries in the future. All orders will be sent out Royal Mail First Class within 48 hours. I couldn't believe how fast the shipping was, Rachel sent my bracelets in the afternoon and I received them the next morning! 

Keep your eyes peeled on here, because I will be doing an OOTD post before too long featuring these, they look perfect with everything I wear!

The product(s) included in this post were provided to me for an unbiased review. Please see my disclosure page for more information.

Five Favourites: JANUARY!

Hi Everyone,

I had meant to post this last night, but I didn't get around to it. I started watching the soaps at about half past nine, and then I needed to get an earlyish night because I had to be up early for playgroup. 

It's time for my Five Favourites post for January! It only seems like yesterday that I was doing my 2012 Favourites!

1. My Dad came to stay:

Love this cushion, love everything here

At the start of the month, my Dad came over and stayed for week. I really wish I saw more of him, but with the North Sea in between us, it doesn't happen like that. It was so nice to see him, and now both of my parents have seen my house, so it's perfect!

2. I stayed with my Mum:

Credit:  cards here at Folksy

While my boyfriend has been away, I've been staying with my Mum. I was meant to stay for two weeks, but with the snow and then me getting ill again, I've ended up staying for four weeks! I'm leaving on Tuesday, but this month has really been good. It's been nice staying here, my Mum gets me into a decent eating routine, and she has whipped my son into shape, not literally of course! But he's definitely a creature of routine now. He likes to eat at the same time every day, has proper naps, and it's a testament to grandparents in general, they are good at raising children!

3. My son started saying a couple of words: 

My writing, not Caleb's!

Caleb has really come along this month. He's been ill and actually stopped walking for three days, but his speech is developing noticeably. This month he has said "car," "dog," and has tried to say "fish" and "kiss." It's so cute! Sometimes he speaks in a really adult voice! It sounds like someone is throwing their voice and he just moves his mouth, but it's really him... The funniest time was when we were looking at eyeshadows on my phone together and just exclaimed "oh yeah!" It was a had-to-be-there moment but it was amazing, he sounded like such a little boy!

4. I feel like a real driver:

My car, Francoise

This month I drove 250 miles down to my Mum's. It was the longest drive I'd ever done, and now I feel like a legitimate driver. Now I just get in the car and go, something I never thought would happen.

5. I started a new project:

Ten points if you know what film that quote came from, it's my favourite!

This month I decided to try something new, so I've decided to write a book. It's a novel, and the kind of book I love reading. I've just started the planning stage, using a program called Scrivener and it's going well so far. If and when I finish it, I'm going to publish it as an e-book on the Kindle Store. I'm really excited about it, and 2013 is going to be the year I write my story!

This month has been depressing because of the weather, but apart from that, it's been a great start to 2013! My boyfriend is back on Tuesday, so hopefully my February Favourites will include a holiday!!!

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!