Diana+ lomography camera overview

Merry Christmas to you all, and I hope you have a great new year! I had a very good Christmas, I got amazing presents and spent it with my family and friends. I'm leaving later tonight to visit Mons, Belgium to see my sister and her family. I thought I'd bid you farewell until after the new year by leaving you with one very exciting post!

Now, I don't know about you but I love photography. Despite only having owned one camera before in my entire life, I've always had a passion for the more artsy low-fi shots that are captured on film cameras. My camera I've always used is actually digital, and no amount of my crappy editing skills could get them to look as I wanted. So, I researched online and found the Diana+. And lo and behold, here it sits in my unwise hands.

This is the dreamer edition from urban outfitters.

It's a completely plastic camera, and there are many different editions of it to collect. I brought this one for £50. The Diana was first produced in the 1960's as a toy camera, but never took off and so stopped being made. However, in 2007 lomography began to produce them again and here we are. 

It has a 75mm lens, with 3 different focus settings. You can twist the lens and pop it off, allowing you to take pinhole shots (you have to change the setting on the underside of the 'lens') or to use one of the different lenses such as wide-angle and fish-eye available from lomography.com.  I personally want to try these, as they offer a lot of variety and alternation between the different sort of photos you can take and the effects you can give.  The shutter button is on the side of the lens (left hand side below the finger in the photo) and you simply pull it down and hold it for as long as you'd like the exposure to be. 

Underneath on the underside of the lens, there are 4 different settings: cloudy, semi-cloudy, sunny and pinhole to let the lens allow different amounts of light in. 

On-top of the lens to the right of the shutter, there is a B or N setting. N is for normal daytime, and B is for low-light or night time. 

On the back of the camera, there is a small section to decide whether you want to use 16 small shots, or 12 large panorama shots in a roll. This can be changed after the roll is finished. The camera has a textured effect. You also have the viewfinder at the top, although it's fairly inaccurate. On the bottom of the camera you have a lock or unlock switch, which allows you to slide the back off or lock it into place. There's also a hole for a tripod to screw into. You can also buy the 35mm film back and the instant-back from lomography.

The camera (the dreamer model I have) comes with a white plastic neck strap, which is a bit cheap and nasty looking so I'm tempted to cut it off and invest in a prettier one later on. It also comes with a shutter holder clip, so if you're doing a long exposure photo you don't have to hold it down as it can become harder the longer you hold it for. I've yet to work out how that works! It's capable of  having a flash too, and there's a two prong hole for it to slot into. 

Overall, I am in love with this camera. Yes, I brought the wrong film so it's probably gonna be black and not working. Yes, it took me about 2 hours to work out what to do. And yes, it's plastic. But, that is what makes it great. 

I hope you enjoyed this review. Please comment if  you'd like to see more ( way more interesting!) posts about my Diana and film photography. Thanks for reading and stay safe at new years.

NOTD - Deborah Lipmann's razzle dazzle!

As I expect many of you will know, in the recent glossybox there was mini size of the Deborah Lipmann polish razzle dazzle. Not only did I actually squeal when I got this, I quickly took of my hour old polish and painted this on. And boy, am I glad I did.

In the bottle, this polish looks gorgeous. It looks like a vampy wine base, with lots and lots of raspberry glitter. The Lipmann polishes are most famous for the glitter ones, and this really lives up to the good name.  It photographs well in the bottle too, but not so well on the nail. In real life however, it is much more spectacular and 'interesting' than it seems here.

This photo is a little so-so. It doesn't show it as pretty as I'd like it too, but the pointer (index?) finger is most accurate. It is a very dark base, almost so dark you don't notice the glitter until your in the light and then the glitter will shine and you'll finally notice it. I like that glossybox decided to include this as it's more unusual and deeper then the generic glitters. This photo is with flash in dim(ish) lighting.




This photo is without flash. You can see it's not as shimmery as it looks above. It is a very pretty polish, and I'm contemplating wearing this on Christmas instead of China Glaze's ring in the red (http://vanillasand01.blogspot.com/2011/11/notd-china-glaze-ring-in-red.html my blog post about it) but I'm not sure yet!




As always, thank you so much for reading and all your comments.
Would you wear this, or did you receive it ?

Favourite youtuber of the month! Fashionrocksmysocks

I thought since I'd started up my blogging again, I'd start a new series about the favourite people I enjoy watching on YouTube. I do have an account, but I tend not to post as I have more of a passion for blogging so I use my account to keep up to date with the people I really enjoy watching!

So for my first month, I have chosen a girl called Rhiannon, otherwise known as fashionrocksmysocks.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FashionRocksMySocks

She is so genuine and does fantastic videos. She study's fashion and has an amazing fashion sense with a bit of individuality, but she isn't selfish about her style ideas. Alot of people with a great idea tend to try and keep it to there selves, whereas she does great DIY videos about how to create your own items.

I find her as a person a little less mainstream, and a little more quirky which I absolutely love in a person and style.  My favourite video of hers is her shoe collection (I love her style and I'm generally a shoe person) and also I get to ogle her beautiful tattoo.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbfYgDFHXnk&feature=plcp&context=C34a7423UDOEgsToPDskIgoceu7w19TqM2R2Ym3ZJj
I also love how she always wears her scarves as hair bands, and she inspires me in a lot of how I style my clothes.

Thankyou for reading and please comment if you like this idea for a series, or if you also enjoy Rhiannon's channel!

December Glossybox 2011

So, I'm a little late on the bandwagon for glossybox. I'm always late posting, and this time isn't an exception. I initially missed the delivery of my box, so I had to get it redelivered on Wednesday. However, everyone's contents were different so I thought I might as well still post what I received. This post will be a little photo-heavy, so i'm sorry about that. Enjoy!

This month the glossy box was a shiny red, with the white paper squiggles inside. I loved this, and it made the whole thing seem a lot more festive then if it had been in the original packaging.

 It's very pretty! I was pleased that when I opened it, it looked pretty full. I love opening packages anyway, so a full one makes it even better! Naturally, I went for the biggest product I could see first, which was the rituals Yogi Flow foaming shower gel.

This is full size (200ml at £6.50.) It smells lovely, a not too overpowering sweet floral,  and also foams really well. I like that it isn't too expensive either, because if I do love it I can go and buy it without feeling too guilty.  I do like luxurious samples, but I'm not a huge spender on more bath and body products compared to skin care or nail polish, so this was a bonus for me.

I would say do be careful when using the nozzle. I tried to squirt some onto my hand, and it shot all over my carpet! A little goes a long way too as it is very creamy and rich (similar to a gel shaving cream!), so this should last quite a long time. From what I could see from my subscription to other bloggers, everyone got this gel. Next, I opened the nouveau lashes noir mascara. No other blogger that I'm subscribed to received this, the majority it seems, got the blink & go palette, or mascara. I admit I did look at others posts before I received my glossybox, and I was hoping to get the palette. However, after recieving this mascara i've got to say I would rather have this as I suspect the palette would've got thrown to the back of my draw never to be seen again! 

It came in this cute box, and it is very nicely packaged. The sleek black tube is quite heavy, although not overly so, just enough to give it that 'expensive' feel. It's full sized (8g) and retails for £14.99.

The brush seems quite good, thick and not too much product gathers on it. I haven't used it yet, but expect a review soon. I was in need of a new mascara, and hopefully this fits the bill!

Next is the F-A-B beauty's face cleanser. I admit I would've preferred the face base from mememe, as I have sensitive skin with acne and the face products from glossybox or that i've brought myself never seem to work for me. However, it does say on the front it removes makeup so I will give it a go. It doesn't have any scent, so I don't think it would irritate many skin types. It says it contains no parabens, harsh chemicals or colorants.  It's a sample size at 28.3g, the full size (141g) retails at £13.00.

Next is the mini cargo lip gloss in the shade Las Vegas. It is perfect for me, super sheer with just a hint of pinky-peach with lots of golden sparkle. I think I'm going to wear this on Christmas for just a hint of sparkle, as I'm not a huge fan of colours on my lips (I love them on other people but it looks ridiculous on me!). It's not sticky at all so I'm not sure how long it will last on the lips, but the colour isn't crazy so it shouldn't take too much effort to apply. This is 0.45g and the full size retails at £10.00. I couldn't find how much the full size contains anywhere.

Badly swatched, it's basically a pale pink with lots of pretty sparkle!

Lastly, the real gem of this box was a mini Deborah Lipmann polish in razzle dazzle with 1 stripper to go nail remover mitt. I was so excited about this because I've never tried a polish from Deborah Lipmann, and this colour is perfect for the holiday season. It's a dark wine coloured base, with lots of raspberry small glitters. It is gorgeous! This photo is pretty true to life. I'm not sure if I'd like the base on it's own as a colour, but paired with the glitter it's phenomenal! The little glass bottle is very cute too, and you get 9ml of product. The full size is £16, so I am very happy with this little one!

Lastly, there is the Deborah Lipmann stripper to go lavender nail lacquer remover finger mitts. I have never tried these, but they are allegedly supposed to help remove glitter polishes easily, and these particular ones are supposed to be used with the notorious Lipmann polishes (hard to remove!) You get 1 mitt, and for the full size (6 mitts) it is £14. I wouldn't pay this much for nail remover personally, but they're a nice luxurious treat to go with the polish.




Overall, I am really impressed with this months glossybox and am glad I continued with my subscription after the fairly average November box (hence no blog about it!) I hope you enjoyed reading this, and please comment any ideas for new posts! Thanks for reading

NOTD - china glaze ring in the red

In the bottle

This is my first ever China Glaze polish, and it did not disappoint! This is from their Christmas collection (which is gorgeous!) and it's a sparkly red with small and medium hexagonal glitters. This photo is actually very true to life, and you can see some of the sparkle. It's really very sparkly and such a beautiful Christmas shade. I originally went for ruby red pumps but my local Sally's had sold out, so I got this as the closest dupe. I've actually seen swatches comparing the two, and Ring in the red (right) is very much lighter then ruby red pumps which is more of a dark red compared to pillar-box.

So you can see it here with 2 coats. This really doesn't do the polish justice, as it looks almost see-through. With 1 coat it was really sheer, and the glitter was sparse, it looked almost pink. At 2 coats, you could see a little of the nail but in real life it was much more opaque than the picture portrays. After I took this photo, I applied another coat and it was completely opaque, so i'd recommend doing 3 coats or wearing a red polish underneath. Overall, I love this colour and would definently recommend it. The only down falls I would say are the fact it chipped within 2 days quite badly, although I'm sure a good topcoat could help (I added a matte one which helped. It also looked gorgeous matte too!). Lastly, China glaze is as far as I know, only available at Sally's in the UK which some people wouldn't have access too. Apart from that, China Glaze seems to be great.

I brought this for £6.49 at Sally's beauty supply.
Would you wear it?
Thanks for reading! x

  

NOTD - models own Champagne

Today I went to boots, and treated myself to a models own polish called champagne.
I was looking for a festive colour, but wanted to avoid (for the time being!) clichéd colours like red and green, so I went for a sparkly taupey-grey with pink undertones (hence the champagne name!)

 It was a dream to paint on, just the right consistency between thick and thin. In 1 coat it was sparkly and fairly opaque, although you could still see a tiny bit of the nail. In 2 it was opaque, and in the picture I did 3 coats just for good measure. It's super sparkly and almost foil like, with a gorgeous sheen and almost duo-chrome ness as it looks silver, gold and then pink in certain lights. I am definently gonna buy more models own polishes, and would definently recommend them to everyone.

All the regular polishes from models own are £5. Would you wear it?

My models own Beetlejuice arrived!

I am so excited! My models own nail polishes from the new, online-exclusive beetlejuice collection arrived today. I got the Aqua violet, golden green and purple blue. I wanted the pink-brown too but they're sold out until the end of November. Sadly the collection isn't coming to stores (as of this date) so you can only order online. Needless to say, i'm sitting here typing with wet nails, waiting for the polishes to dry.

Expect a NOTD post very soon!

Thankyou so much for reading and subscribing, see you soon! xx

October glossybox!

So, I subscribed to glossybox recently and got their 6 month anniversary October edition, which came with 6 products instead of the usual 5, and also a free make-up case.

Firstly, glossybox is a monthly subscription service that you can cancel at any point, and for £10 a month (plus £2.95 p+p) you get 5 deluxe samples, ranging from skin care to make-up. Some of the brands working with glossybox are ciate, dermalogica, llamasqua, OPI, and stila to name but a few. It's the UK's answer to the USA's birchbox.

The october glossybox was rather impressive, which is mainly the reason why I signed up to begin with. It included a lot of good quality products, and a stila smudge stick which I had been wanting to try for a long time.

The glossybox is rather pretty and sleek looking, and the company takes great pride in there appearance which I personally love.

It comes in protective cardboard packaging, and then there is this rigid cardboard baby pink box inside with the glossybox black crown symbol.

The box is re-usable and I am definitely going to keep them to give presents in and for storage.

Inside the box, it's wrapped in tissue paper and has a pink ribbon tied along with a sticker to keep it secure. This months glossybox had a great selection of products. It comes with a large card too, with an introduction to the box, the products in the box this month, the full size prices, and a code to scan on your phone to get straight to the website.

This is what it looked like when I peeled back the tissue paper. As you can see I missed out the perfumes as my sister has took them to her boyfriends, but I have got a photo I took a few days ago so I can still review them for you.
This months package had a good mix of skincare and make-up, as well as nail polish and fragrance. It was actually a really great mixture.

Firstly, i'll review the dermalogica products.
There were 3 all from the age smart line, the multivitamin power recovery mask, multivitamin thermafoliant and the renewal lip complex. It came with a handy travel case, which is a good material and feels sturdy. It's also a wipe-down material which is great. In the photo I have the products next to an iPod touch so you can see the size. The 2 face products are 15ml, and i'd say are good for 2+ uses, and surprisingly although the lip product is only 1ml, it has lasted me for 4 uses already, and a little goes a long way. I haven't tried the face products, but i'm really excited too as dermalogica are a great brand.

Next, is the stila smudge stick in moray, which is a dark green, with golden glitter. It's £13 for the full size, which I believe the one included in the box is. The eye-liner is a dream to work with, incredibly pigmented and as suggested by the name, super easy to smudge. The colour is very pretty too, and definitely wearable and flattering. The only complaint I do have for this product is the fact it is so hard to wind up. It takes around 20 twists to come up, and I am not sure how to get it back down so it gets smooshed in the lid. However, I would buy another smudge stick as they are just fantastic.

Lastly, is the 3 perfume samples from Robert Piguet, which is a high end fragrance brand which retails for £65 for 50ml. The 3 included were Calypso, visa and  fracas, and they came in a cute pink tie bag which can be reused for jewellery. Firstly, is Calypso. It is a floral fragrance, with underlying notes of patchouli and amber. This is one of the nicer fragrances, it's very feminine and as all the perfumes are, very elegant and grown up. Next, is Visa. This is fruity, with a base again of patchouli, sandalwood and vanilla. I really like this fragrance, and I feel it's more a younger scent so you could pull it off if your a teen like me. Lastly is fracas, a completely floral fragrance. This is my least favourite, as I find it is just a bit musky and old for me, and I can't imagine anyone under the age of 60 wearing it. I find fragrance is a very personal thing, so check them out if you are interested at harrods.

Thanks for reading, please comment and subscribe.
My youtube account is http://www.youtube.com/user/vanillasand01?feature=mhee xxx

Models own beetlejuice collection!

Models own are coming out with a new collection on 1st Nov, consisting of 5 polishes, mostly duo-chrome which I love. They are £5 each, but I know they are going to be included in the '5 for £15' deal which is amazing. The series consists of a yellow-green, an interesting pinky-brown, a purple-pink, a beautiful blue-purple and lastly a green-black.

 photo from www.britishbeautyblogger.com

This is the first in a long time that i've been genuinly excited for a nail polish collection. Models own have certainly delivered with this beautiful collection, and my favourites are the blue, purple, and the pinky brown.

Are you going to be getting them?

Glossybox!

After a month or two of speculation, I finally subscribed to Glossy-box!

I had heard of it for a while, but never been very interested as I thought I might as well just buy a full size product I know I'll use! However, as i've been delving into the beauty world more and more, I've realised I do buy a lot of products I won't ever use. Also, the October box really impressed me so I am hoping to receive that box soon :).

I'll do a post soon! xx

Soap and Glory sexy motherpucker review

This is my review of the Soap and Glory sexy mother pucker lip plumping gloss in 'candy gloss'. 
It's a pale pink lip plumper gloss, with golden glitter in it. It retails at £8.43  for 7ml from boots, and comes in a variety of flavours and colours. 

I got this in a gift set at Christmas, and it has a brush applicator, although I have seen some of the glosses have a doe-foot. The colours available are:
Candy gloss (the pale pink I have)
Clear
Pink apricot
Half naked
Yummy plum.
I have only tried the Candy gloss, but I plan to buy the Pink apricot and half naked soon. Soap and glory have great deals on at Christmas time so it's worth shopping around then.
The lip plumping effects of this gloss is not really noticeable to me, but when it's applied you can definitely feel the sharp tingle for at least 15 minutes. I find this tingling quite pleasant, but it's really a love/hate feeling. 

Before applying the plumper.
This gloss is overall a bargain at just £8.43 for a coloured gloss and plumper all in one. To me, it isn't that great a plumper, so you may be better off going for a different brand if the plumping effects are what you are looking for. But as a coloured gloss which tastes lovely, this fairs well. The particular gloss I have tastes of vanilla, or perhaps candy floss. It is a nice taste. The gloss itself is sticky and quite thick in the tube, but once applied thins

After applying the plumper.
The colour is very nice, and it is a pale pink slightly lighter then my own lips, with nice gold glitter. The glitter isn't uncomfortable at all, and can barely be felt. The stickiness is an issue, but as with MAC lipglasses, it fades after a little while. The colour lasts for around 4 hours+, so it's quite long-lasting. 






Overall, I would definitely recommend this lip plumper to anyone looking for a heavy duty gloss with a great colour and flavour. This is a great, cheaper alternative to a MAC gloss!

I hope you enjoyed this review!
See you soon, 
vanillasand xxx 

    

 

Maybelline dream matte mousse foundation review

Hey guys!

This is my review on the maybelline dream matte mousse foundation.
This foundation, at the time of it's release, was something of a break-through. It combines a full-coverage foundation with the matte, silky finish of a powder. It is quite a nice product in terms of the feel of it, as once applied it feels silky and is matte which as a sufferer of combination/oily skin, is always a good thing for me.

The colour of this foundation is now too pale for me, but when it was a match, the colour was ok. It suited my skin tone fairly well, but a close friend once told me I had a 'orange' streak all down my cheek when wearing this foundation, but I may not have rubbed it in well enough. The shade I have (020, cameo) is definitely yellow based, so beware if you don't like the yellow tint or have very rosy skin, as it does wash you out if you are going for a nude look on the lips and eyes. The mousse consistency takes a little getting used to, as it can 'clump' into balls when applying and fall off. I recommend taking a little piece (half of 5p coin, very thin) and doing your face piece by piece, remembering to blend into your neck too (Nobody wants a gross foundation line!). If you have dry skin, BEWARE of this product. It highlights dry skin very, very badly and it even dried my oily skin out  (I assume to ensure the matte finish) . I wouldn't recommend this product if you have dry skin or dry patches.

Overall, I would rate this product 3/5. It is okay, but I know of a lot of foundations that are better. The mousse consistency is nice once applied, but it is a pain to apply and the colour range is not very good. I think if maybelline did a dry skin formulation and also widened and tweaked the colour system, these foundations would be a hit. Meanwhile, I wouldn't purchase this again. I am sticking to the traditional liquid and powder routine!

Thanks for reading,
see you soon!
Vanillasand xx

Urban Decay NAKED palette

Hey guys! This is my first ever blog post, so excuse me if I am fairly bad at the concept. Please go check out my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/vanillasand01?feature=mhee . I plan to record my first video very soon!

So onto the review.

I brought this nude, natural palette from urban decay for £26.50 on a thomson airways flight. It retails for around £35 currently at debenhams and the house of fraser. This palette is very, VERY popular with alot of people for its excellent range of  wearable nude and natural shades. It has 12 shades (from left to right with flash on)



virgin, sin, naked, sidecar,

buck, half baked, smog, darkhorse,

toasted, hustle, creep and gunmetal.








In the uk it comes with a full sized good karma shadow brush which usually retails at £14.50 from Debenhams, and a mini primer potion in the original colour. It is a bargain, as the urban decay shadows usually retail at around £13 for a single one, so effectively you are getting (if brought at £26.50) 10 shadows free and a free full-sized brush too. Bargain!


I enjoy this palette alot, as it contains so many beautiful neutral shades ideal for everyday looks from smoky eye, to bronzed goddess, to the innocent girl. Any look is possible!

My personal favourites are sin, half-baked, smog, toasted and hustle. Here are some swatches.

From top-right, then down to 2nd row and right again
Buck  ( matte, tan brown, not very pigmented)
half baked (metallic, 24k gold, very pigmented)
smog ( metallic, dark golden tan, very pigmented)
darkhorse (metallic, dark brown, very pigmented)
(2nd row) virgin (matte, light white highlight, average pigmentation)
sin (frosty shimmer, light champagne pink, average)
naked (matte, tan, average but hard to see as it is skin toned)
sidecar ( frosty shimmer, dusky brown-tan,  good pigmentation)

toasted ( frosty shimmer, brown with golden highlights,a lot of pigmentation.)
hustle (slight gold glitter, dark choc brown,  a lot of pigmentation.)
creep (slight gold glitter, dark blue-black, average pigmentation)
gunmetal (gold glitter frost, blue with grey hints, average pigmentation).




I hope you enjoyed this review of the UD naked palette and I would definitely recommend you buy this palette if you enjoy working with smooth, easy neutral colours which you can easily create many looks with. This is great for beginners as a first palette or first eye shadow, right through to the professionals.

Thanks for reading!
vanillasand xx