Lemon Nails - Nails of The Week!

Hey Guys,

So I decided to do another Nails of The Week segment as you seemed to like it so much last time. However I won't be able to do these type of posts every week like the title suggests as I just don't have the time at the moment; I will try and do them as much possible though!

So for this nail look, I decided to go quite simple as I had just bought this nail varnish and I wasn't sure if I would like it as much on my nails as I did in the bottle. Do you guys know what I mean when I say the colour it appears in the bottle is sometimes not even close to what it looks like on your nails? Also I find Barry M nail varnish quite thin, which isn't a bad thing it just means that I have to paint three coats instead of just two (with the occasional clear coat on top), thus taking longer to dry. 

This nail varnish was in the colour "Lemon" (307) and I decided on this one because my collection so far mainly consists of various shades of pinks and mints. Also it's nice towards the end of summer and the beginning of autumn to still have a little bit of sunshine on your fingertips! 

Considering I was very busy all week the nail varnish stayed on incredibly well and lasted at least 4 days before chipping at all. However once it had started to chip off, it all seemed to come off very quickly, and before long I was missing all of the nail varnish on about three fingers. I'm one of those people who really don't like wearing really badly chipped nail varnish at college or out and about so I have to re do it at the weekends, ready for the week ahead. 

As I had washed my hair four times, cleaned my room, went shopping, wrote a load of blog posts and did some painting all in one week, I think it stayed on surprisingly well. I also pick at my nail varnish a lot when I am bored so that may have something to do with it, haha!

I definitely recommend you try out this colour, but you have to have a lot of time to do this, as many of you already know three coats takes a looooong time to dry. 

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(This post is not sponsored!)

Sorry Guys!

Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't been around much lately but I was away all last week so I didn't get the chance to post anything on my blog or my YouTube channel. However this week I have done nothing but make videos and write posts so my blog will continue as usual from today. 

Also while I was away we hit 1,000 page views which is amazing considering I only officially started my blog three weeks ago!

Thanks so much guys! 

And if you want to check out my YouTube channel if you haven't already here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/redhotblog

 

New Video: My Top Summer Must Reads!

Hey Guys,

So as you may, or may not know, I have started my very own YouTube channel which is very appropriately called "really redmeg". It is a place for me to post things visually instead of just writing them down all the time. 

This week I have uploaded a video on My Top Summer Reads and you can check it out 

here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMVf9i9XxRo

Videos are up every Friday!

It would be awesome if you could check out my channel and subscribe!

Mint Nails - Nails Of The Week!

 Hey Guys,

So I thought that today I would share with you my new favourite nail style and the beauty products I used to create this look.

The lighter colour that I decided to use is the Maybelline New York: Forever Strong Super Stay Gel Nail Colour in the colour Mint For Life (615). I really like this pale mint on my nails as I think that it goes with whatever I'm wearing and I can pair it with other nail varnishes and it still looks great!

I wanted to put another colour with the Mint For Life as I feel like I always wear just one nail varnish at any given time. So the colour I decided to go with was the Forevermore Green (625) in the same brand as the Mint For Life. I think that these two colours go well together, however I feel like the Forevermore Green is too strong for me to wear on all of my nails. 

As I felt like the Forevermore Green was very dark I decided to make it glittery without having to go out and get a whole new nail varnish; I'm also too nervous to use craft glitter on my nails!

I did this by grabbing a paint brush and the Barry M Fine Glitter Dust in the shade 26. I thought that this went amazingly well with the colours I had decided to use on my nails and it was only hanging around in my makeup draw doing nothing.

If you wanted to you could use the glitter on all of your nails if you were to wear them for a night out or just really love having glamerous nails, however I decided to go with just the ring finger on both hands. (Partly because I couldn't be asked and partly because I tried it on the other nails and messed up! haha) All I did was lightly dust the glitter onto my nail, while the nail varnish was still tacky, and then wait a while before gently washing the rest of under the tap. Once I was sure the nail was try I then applied Crystal Clear (25) nail varnish in the same brand over the top to make sure the shimmer glitter stayed on.

In the picture at the top I have two coats of the Mint For Life and the Forevermore Green, with another layer of clear over the top of the Forevermore Green.

After waiting for my nails to dry, I then went around the outside of each nail with a cotton bud (soaked in nail varnish remover) to make sure I had clean edges.

If you want to, you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter @redhotblog or go check out my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/redhotblog

My YouTube Channel

Hey Guys,

Two weeks ago I started my very own YouTube channel called "really redmeg" where I talk about fashion, beauty products, my monthly favourites and a lot about books!

I just thought I would share this with you guys in case you preferred watching instead of reading, which I know I do sometimes.

Videos will be up every Friday so please take a look, I know its not much at the moment but I am always trying to make each video better.

There is currently only two videos up so I know there is not a lot to judge me on but if you like what you see don't forget to subscribe!

It would be so cool if you guys could check it out.

Link to my YouTube Channel:

 https://www.youtube.com/user/redhotblog

Silver Shadows

“What is it with you and girls, Adrian, dear? Why do they either mean nothing to you or everything? It's always an extreme."

Hey Guys,
I cannot tell you how long I have waited for this book! After I finished reading the fourth book in this series, The Fiery Heart, I had to wait for what felt like years for Silver Shadows to come out; the ending of each of the books leaves you on such a cliff hanger that you cannot believe that you have to wait so long for the next one.

I don't want to give too much away for those who are yet to start the series but this book was probably one of my favourites, along with The Golden Lily and The Fiery Heart. I have to say that I would have liked to have seen more scenes where Sydney and Adrian were together, those who have read this book or the previous one will know why, but I really do like the way that Richelle Mead creates her characters and takes them on a journey.

There was also a lot of character development within this novel which is unusual for a book so far along in the series, but I would actually recommend this book over The Vampire Academy Series. However to get a real feel of Adrian Ivashkov, the male lead character, you should really read The Vampire Academy series first as he also features in that as well.

For those who haven't started the series yet, I have to be honest, the first book isn't my favourite but it gets the series started and lets you get to know all of the characters. We are also introduced to another group of people in the Bloodlines series which are the Alchemists, which aren't featured as much in The Vampire Academy novels like the Moroi, Dhampirs and Strigoi are. 

These books are not really suitable for anyone under 12 so if you are under this age please ask a parent or guardian before reading them.
 You can find Richelle here and you can buy Silver Shadows here.
Tell me what you think on Twitter or Instagram.

Every Day

“The clock always ticks. There are times you don't hear it, and there are times that you do.” 

Hey Guys,

Now you will probably learn this the more I share the books I have read with you, but I only tend to read books from both ends of the spectrum; those that are about vampires and supernatural beings or those that could have been based on real people. Every day by David Levithan is somewhat in between the two, it could be true but there are still unrealistic qualities.

However I am extremely glad that I picked this book up, it's funny, romantic and unbelievably tragic all at once.

The only thing I wasn't keen about with this book was the front cover, which is saying something, because of the vibrant orange colour as it is very bright and does seem like its trying to copy the vivid colouring of The Fault In Our Stars. Nonetheless it did do its job in getting my attention in the book shop and I did end up buying it so maybe more authors should consider brightening up their covers.

Although I would consider this a romantic novel, I can promise you it will be like no other you have read before! Without giving too much away the protagonist - A - goes to great lengths to see the girl that could change everything and the ending is the make or break for the entire novel.

One of my favourite things about this book was the chapters, well they weren't really chapters, which is the point; the book is split up into days so they all differ greatly in length depending on how much there is to write about. I really like this layout as it suits the style of the book much better than chapters would have.

I really do recommend that you read this book; whether it in your back garden or by the pool in Italy!
You can find David Levithan here and you can buy Every Day here.
Come say hi on Instagram or Twitter!

I have decided to give this book 4 flowers. Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Trouble

"All I need to know if whether she's OK. That is all."

Hey Guys,
When I saw this book in Waterstones a few weeks back the first thing that intrigued me was the tag line, "A Boy. A Girl. A Bump." and the fact that I had never read anything like this before. It had me instantly thinking about teen pregnancies and maybe the fact that it was some weird alternate universe where the guy gets pregnant; it wasn't but that would have been good!

I have to admit it did take me a big longer to get through this books that some of the others that I have read but this novel has some serious plot twists and interlinking story lines that most young adult novels these days lack. All I can say is that the way it starts off is nothing like the way it finishes.

Non Pratt has split her book into two different points of view, one from the pregnant teen Hannah, and the other from her best guy friend Aaron. I normally don't go for books with split points of view but after reading Eleanor & Park I thought I would give this book a go. The best section of this book is about the last fifth of the pages but to get a feel of the characters and their lives you need to read the whole book; and please don't skip to the end! If you do I promise it will ruin the whole thing for you.

By the end of the book I did get really attached to the two main characters Hannah and Aaron, how realistic they were, like they could have been real people on an episode of Teen Mom or 16 and pregnant. (Not that the book reads across like that!)

As it is about a pregnant teenage girl and a lot of young boys, hopefully you can see where I'm going with this, I do not recommend it to anyone under the age of 14. However to anyone above this age I really think you should read this book as its both funny and sad, definitely one of my favourites!
You can find Non Pratt here.

I have decided to give this book 4 flowers. Tell me your thoughts and opinions in the comments below or on Twitter or Instagram.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“I am constantly torn between killing myself and killing everyone around me.” 

Hey Guys,

After reading Every Day by David Levithan I decided to have a look at what else he had written; now don't get me wrong, I had seen Will Grayson, Will Grayson before in bookstores but never thought of reading it as it didn't really seem like my "thing". However now that I knew that this novel was a collaboration between John Green and the guy that wrote Every Day (one of my new favourite books!) I just knew I had to buy it and read it.

I wasn't really sure what this book was going to be like, since the blurb said something about a musical I thought it was going to be similar to a novelized version of High School Musical, with lyrics and stage directions in between chapters. Instead I found a genuinely heartwarming book about two guys who both happen to be called Will Grayson, meeting each other one day outside a very questionable shop. 

The novel itself is split into two, not directly in half but in the way that both authors take turns writing a chapter from their Will Grayson's point of view. I really liked this way of setting out the novel as it was evenly divided between the two so people could get to know one Will Grayson just as much as the other. However as much of a fan of John Green as I am, I actually found myself preferring the Will Grayson written by David Levithan, as he seemed to have a lot more character development and John Green's Will Grayson appeared to lack a bit of depth in some places.

One of the points that I really liked about this novel is the fact that it does openly talk about depression, and in a way that younger people would understand. Also, the Will Grayson written by David Levithan is gay, which I think is a really good way of getting young people used to the idea of one of the protagonists being gay instead of some muscular hunk that gets all the girls. 

I definitely recommend this book but it does have some very strong language so I don't think anyone under the age of 13 should try to read it. If you have already read this book let me know what you thought of it in the comments!

You can find John Green here - David Levithan here - and you can by the book from here.
Come say hi on Instagram and Twitter!