Bargain beauty buy - Primark Neon Polishes

Primark is revered in many ways for their cheap clothing and accessories - unfortunately most of it is made in sweat shops in India by small children. Despite this they've rapidly become a high street staple and in the economic down turn we've been experiencing are a god send for those of us on a budget.

As a general rule, I don't like Primark nail polishes - but this little set of four caught my eye immediately on a recent shopping trip. Neons are definitely in this summer and as per usual all the big brands are releasing their own versions; from Models Own to Essie. Primark like to try and keep up with the trends whilst being affordable so it's no surprise that you can buy four mini neon polishes from them for just £2!

So what do they apply like? Well, unfortunately the tiny bottle and brush makes them quite hard to handle and apply neatly - but the actual nail lacquer inside is gorgeous. I tried out the shell pink one for the purposes of this blog post and here is how it looked after one coat!

There's hardly any visible nail line, the colour is strong and vivid and it dried really nicely. I went back and put another coat on and to be honest, whilst it made the colour even more vivid, it was very hard to do as the bottom layer seemed to go sticky even though it was bone dry before hand; as this colour at least is very pigmented I would say that actually, you can get away with just the one.

I normally hate pinks or oranges but this is lovely and I'm so glad I picked this set up - I can see myself using it a whole lot this summer! The different colours in the range look equally exciting. The yellow definitely has a goldy shimmer to it and the pink is so bright I think I would feel like Barbie wearing it!

The best thing about this set though is the price. I broke my no-buy for this pack but as it was just £2 I don't really consider it a fail. I was in Boots yesterday browsing the stands as you do and I totally bypassed the Models Own new Ice Neon collection because quite frankly, I don't need it any more, I have this!

Thoroughly recommended.

What's in my (new!) handbag

Inevitably, my handbags always get a load of crap accumulated at the bottom of them - plasters, crumbs, (clean!) tissues, receipts...

I found this beautiful handbag in Clarks today and I knew I had to have it. I ummed and ahhed for a while as it was a little over my ideal price range at £29.99 - yes, I am cheap - but eventually love and my friend's handbag buying enabling skills won through and I took it to the till. I was therefore utterly delighted to find that it had 50% off that the shop assistants hadn't got round to marking yet! Fab :D So I got a beautiful, spacious and practical handbag for just £14.98. Definite bargain!

Swoooon!

So, what's in it? As it's brand new, I decided to give a little tour of it, which doesn't include the random icky bits that bags seem to accumulate...

1) The bag itself. Sigh. It's so pretty...
2) My trusty filofax! Now it's possibly a little odd that I carry this around with me, as I use it primarily as an exercise/food tracker, but I do have finance and to-do sheets in it so I guess it's justifiable.
3) Sunglasses courtesy of Primarni, sunglasses case from Accessorize (in the sale)
4) GHD hair brush. It's meant to straighten your hair as you brush it but uh, it doesn't really do that... It's just a nice handy size to keep in my bag.
5) Normal glasses, as it was so hot and sunny today I decided to stick my contacts in which means carrying my normal glasses around with me.
6) Radley purse. I got this for my 18th birthday (yes, over 4 years ago now!) and it still looks fantastic. I would thoroughly recommend Radley purses to anyone - they're a little expensive but they last FOREVER and they're so lovely and cute!
7) Blackberry Curve, I know many say that BBs are terrible and to be honest with you it's not a great phone but as long as it takes and makes phone calls and texts I could care less.
8) Oh dear, I seem to have forgotten to put an 8 on my picture...
9) You never know when you may need a tissue!
10) Neurofen, again another essential
11) House keys! Can't go out with those.

Not pictured - I tend to carry a book with me nowadays too, currently I'm reading Atonement by Ian McEwan. It's just good to have one for those little moments when you're out and about with nothing to do!

Hopefully you enjoyed my bag over view! I've got another memory card reader (though looking at it, I dunno how long this one will last... sigh) so more blogging coming up!

What do you carry in your handbag day to day?